I apologize for the long wait. Here is Arsenal's point of view.

Arsenal sneezed then cursed as pain ripped through his side. It took all his power not to curl up like his body wanted for him to do as he rode the sensation out. This had to be one of the worst ways to wake up.

But at least he actually could wake up.

From what Raven told him the night before, he was lucky to be functioning. A chunk of his left abdominal was blasted clean off. If any other titan was with him instead of her with her teleportation and healing power, he could have died. For the last two days or so he slept as she tended to the worse of his wounds. With two days of unconscious healing, you would think that most of the pain would be gone.

You would be wrong.

He had first awakened to the most unbelievable pain that he had ever experienced physically. The shit he's been through mentally, it would take more than his sides being burnt away to really damage him.

His communicator went off and he waited for it to ring twice before taking a deep breath. Isn't it just his luck? His communicator was sitting on top of the only dresser which sat on the other side of the room.

He cursed as it ranged again.

It wasn't like he and Raven were in a big room. It was a standard hotel room, more on the cheap side not to attract attention. There were two twin sized beds, a dresser with a small television on it, a desk that was on the left side of the dresser and close to the only door leading out, and on the right was the closet and bathroom. It wasn't a big room at all.

But the pain that ripped through him as he attempted to sit up begged to differ. Adding to that, Raven was nowhere in sight.

It took him three times of attempting to roll up from different positions and falling back down, five impatient rings from his communicator, and ten slews of curses before he was able to get out of the bed and regret even starting. There were two more rings and two more curses before he took his first step, cringed, and let out another curse.

That process went on for another minute and by the time he actually made it to the dresser; he was sweating, panting, and wishing he had let the device just ring. He opened his communicator and disabled the video.

He looked like a fucking mess. Vanity aside, he couldn't have whoever calling see him in his distress. If it was Raven, he wouldn't have cared. She knew his current state so she shouldn't be shocked. But Raven's communicator broke when she dropped it in her rush to save him some nights ago. She was also too angry with her teammates to fix it and since Arsenal was out of commission for the time, he didn't see a problem with that.

Besides, if Raven wanted to talk to him, she could have just come into the hotel room.

No, this had to be someone outside of the immediate mission, and they didn't need to know about his injuries.

"Hello."

"Arsenal, are you okay?"

Hearing Bumblebee's voice startled him a bit. Even though he knew it could have been anybody, his first thought wasn't Bumblebee or anybody from his team to be exact. If anybody, he was expecting Nightwing with questions as to why he and Raven haven't been updating them. While his team may have been worried for him, they wouldn't contact him while he was on a deadly mission. Hearing Bumblebee's voice on the other end made him tense up, which caused him to put pressure on his core and made him curse both at the pain and for saying that out loud.

His teammates could pick up he was in distress with a slight hiccup.

"Arsenal, can you hear me?"

And he just realized he hadn't responded yet.

"Yeah! Uh, yeah. Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear." He could hear the slight panic in his own voice, and while it was faint, it wouldn't do in this situation. He had to get rid of them quick.

"Is something up? Why am I being called?"

"We called you on your communicator because Raven's won't connect. Do you know why?"

Hearing Nightwing's voice as he answered gave him a greater sense of understanding. As he thought earlier, it was expectant for Nightwing to call. He could feel his body relax just from knowing they were calling for Raven and not him.

"Yeah. Rae's communicator was broken in our last battle. She hasn't been too happy about that."

"Hey man, is something wrong with your communicator? Why is the visual off?"

Leave it to Cyborg to go technical.

"No Cy. My communicator works just fine. Is there some sort of trouble? Is something wrong?"

"Not to be rude, for we are very grateful to know that you are safe, but where is friend Raven? Last we heard from her, she was in battle and it did not end so well."

By the time Starfire had got the last part of her sentence out, Arsenal could feel himself getting dizzy. His stomach was using all of its muscles to hold him up as he stood against the dresser. Leaning against the dresser didn't alleviate any of the pain. He could barely see his hand tremble from the sweat that dripped in front of his eyes.

It was a good thing he had the visual off.

Unfortunately, he had to also try and keep himself from fainting and at the moment that was a task for the Gods. His vision was beginning to go in and out. His breath was getting shorter and harsher. He knew that without his years of training, he would be a wither mess on the floor. He probably wouldn't have made it out the bed. This wasn't as bad as the torture some of his peers and the others in the hero business had to go through, but he was damn sure it was up there in the same department. It was taking everything in his powers to not faint and the strain from all of that was going to have him pass out.

Was that irony?

A strong particular roll of pain ripped and curled through him and he clutched his side before retreating it so fast that one would question if he actually done it.

But he had.

Remember the surprising pain one would get with a papercut? How shock a person would get that something as feeble and flimsy, if placed in the right angle, could slice a rip through something as strong as the human skin? That was the pain he felt as moved his arm to clutch his wound, but this was worse. That same paper had continued to dig through his skin all the way down to the other side of his body, and once it had made it to the other side, it moved to a new part of his body that was in the same area and began the process again a thousand times over.

He felt so weak.

And he knew his body was about to betray him. With the way his hands were shaking, if he was a surgeon in the middle of an open heart procedure, the patient would have woken up and left with their chest open. The shaking that was only in his hands traveled and consumed his whole body and the only thing that was worrying him more was that his vision was steadily becoming black and spotted.

His hand couldn't grip anymore and he released the communicator. It took a slow descent to the ground and he watched, knowing he was caught. He knew he was done for. He closed his eyes and allowed his body to follow.

He could feel as his body fell with a rush. He understood gravity.

What he couldn't understand was his body being caught by nothingness. Just as quickly as there was once pain, it was gone and replaced with a sense of calm and healing. He could feel as his body halted all its process of shutting down and while he was still dizzy, he could open his eyes.

Standing by the door and make a straight path to him with her arms extended was Raven and she was worried. There were no subtle hints of the emotion that only a close friend would be able to pick it up. Her whole face conveyed the emotions strongly. Her eyes were wide, her jaw was tense, and her brows slanted and curved so hard, there was no denying it. She was worried and it was because of him.

He felt as with every step she took, his own body was lulled through the air and he was moving. He was turned over and he felt as his back was conformed into the hotel bed. Had he been at his top health, the bed might have been considered super generic and subpar in comparisons to the ones he's laid on with his time with his mentor, or with the Titans for that matter.

At his current state, it had to be the most comfortable bed he had ever placed his body upon.

It also helped that Raven's power continued to course through his veins. He looked over at her and noted she was in a calmer state. She peered over him with her free hand resting just shy of where the pain originated from. Though she wasn't touching his wound, all of her power seemed to be concentrated in that one spot.

It was utter bliss.

His eyes flickered to her other hand before back to her face. She had followed his vision but she had yet to look back to him. He could still feel her power coursing through his body but her attention was fixated on the communicator in her hand. While he had disconnected the visual part so the others couldn't see him, he had kept his visual up so he was able to see them. Raven had to have been looking at the split screen between the two waiting teams, but her eyes seemed to be fixated on the left side of the screen; the side where her team was communicating.

Arsenal watched as her face contorted and the calmness that Raven was once portraying was replaced with a scary anger. With one hand, she pushed a few buttons on the communicator. Judging from the outburst of, "Friend Raven!" from the communicator, Arsenal was able to deduct that the visual was taken off.

"Hello Bumblebee, Mas y Menos."

A shiver went through his body as she greeted his teammates. He completely understood why his team got off the communicator as fast as they did. There was an awkward amount of silence that flowed between Raven and her team and Arsenal was wondering who would break first. Nightwing finally broke the quiet as he cleared his throat to begin his speech.

"Hello Raven. How is the mission coming?"

She didn't respond.

"Last we talked to you there seemed to be a major problem. You wanna talk to us about it?"

Arsenal watched as her glare intensified.

Nightwing huffed, "Raven, we understand that we messed up and that you're mad, but we were just worried and you hadn't been communicating with us nor updating and-"

"Nightwing," Raven finally spoke and she seemed to be taking her time. As if she was speaking slowly to make sure her teammates didn't miss a word she was about to say.

"I am not mad. Dogs go mad. I am angry and I am disappointed." She paused and Arsenal noticed as her breathing got slightly heavier. She closed her eyes to seemingly collect herself before continuing. "I cannot fathom what in your right minds would give you a reason to call me. Especially when you all know that this is a dangerous mission."

There was this little stress at the end of her speech that Arsenal could sense was her trying to hold back. He wanted to reach out and lay a reassuring hand on her. He shifted his body just a little bit but while he wasn't withering in pain, it was still there. It was still too much.

He felt a double dose of Raven's magic start to course through him but he focused more on her hand as it gently moved along his abdominal. Her magic was magical, of course, but her slow moving caresses soothed him more. He wanted to thank her, but her attention was still to her team.

"Rae, you wasn't contacting us, girl. And judging from that blast that we saw, the villains must have the last artifact. "

"Cyborg's right. It seems as if you guys failed in your mission. And that means your mission has become much more dangerous. Too dangerous for just two people. I can have Cyborg ready up the T-ship and you guys can have the backup that you'll need in a few days."

A lightbulb shattered in their room. He was sure that her teammates must have heard it. From the look on her face, he was worried she would teleport back to her team to have an all-out battle with them.

He really didn't need that.

"Don't speak of things you don't know. That particular blast wasn't from the actual device but from the prototype of it. It's just as strong and just as dangerous but it's unstable and liable to malfunction and explode. The artifact is still safe and sound, so no, we haven't failed. And if you guys hadn't called and distracted me, Arsenal and I might have actually defeated them that night and there wouldn't have been any casualties."

"Casualties? Friend Raven, who is hurt?"

"That is of none of your business. Until Arsenal and I return home, the details of this mission is none of your busy. For that matter, consider all communication between you and I discontinued."

"What!"

"Friend Raven, you mustn't do that!"

"Raven, what are you thinking?"

Raven's demeanor seemed to have changed by then. She was no longer steaming with anger but she wasn't back to her regular calm self. Her head was high and her body had straightened. Arsenal might not have encountered Raven enough times to know what her every movement and gesture meant but he knew this. Her guard was up and she was in charged. Her emotional barrier was high. He could only guess that her teammates pleas would be able to waiver her thoughts.

And apparently she wasn't in the mood for that.

"I thought that I could rely on my teammates to be able to trust me while on this mission and I was wrong. Now, to ensure that this problem doesn't happen again, to ensure our safety, Arsenal's and mine, I will be cutting off all communication between my team and this mission."

Somebody on the other lined had opened their mouths to argue, probably Nightwing, but Raven stopped whoever from replying by pulling her healing hand from his stomach and holding it up to the screen for the universal signal of 'STOP.'

"My decision is final. If Arsenal and I do end up needing backup, we can make a call to a variety of other Titans. You four are not our only option."

She placed her free hand on the back of his communicator.

"Since I have nothing more to say, and you all have said plenty, I say we end this conversation and bid each other a good nigh-"

"WAIT!"

Maybe if it had been any of her other teammates that had yelled out to her, she probably would've snapped the communicator shut without a care. But it was the Changeling who had called out to her. From that one conversation Arsenal had had with her at the café, he knew that Raven was still hurt from being stood up.

And from how she was hesitating, he knew that even while hurt, her feelings were still strong for the shapeshifter.

"Rae…Raven, we're really sorry about the difficulties we've caused you on your mission. We were just worried."

Arsenal tested his body, breathing in and out harder than normal, stretching his abdominal before making any big movement. There was still a sting, but compared to earlier, he felt amazing. He pushed his body up until he was fully sitting up, his back resting against the headrest.

He wanted to have a clear view of her face as she talked to the changeling.

"Please, don't stay angry with us. We understand what did was wrong, but that doesn't mean we don't trust you. You're one of the strongest superheroes I know! That doesn't mean we don't worry. Even Superman has people worrying for him, and he's Mister Invincible!"

The changeling released a chuckle and Arsenal noticed a little light flash through her eyes. Her emotionless barrier seemed to have lowered a bit and she almost smiled. Of course, she didn't, but Arsenal could tell she wanted to…maybe.

He still wasn't skilled in reading her.

"But Rae we worried because we care for you. You're important to us! I lov-." Raven's eyes visibly widen and even Arsenal was surprised with Changeling's boldness.

"I MEAN WE! We love you!" There was a panic in Changeling's voice and Arsenal had to chuckle as he listened. "I mean, not that I don't love you too, cause I DO! But, uh, I love you as a…a…a, uh, as ah…a TEAMMATE! Yes, as a teammate! I love you as a teammate, and I really hope you make it back safely."

There was a sigh that had to have come from the changeling, but Arsenal knew that the small and almost silent giggle was from Raven. He could see why she liked him.

But with how quickly she stopped her giggles and harden her face, he could also see she was still angry with the shifter.

"Thank you…but I'm still closing the communication."

And she snapped the communicator shut.

She was quiet except for her breathing, which was slightly rushed. There was the slightest hint of red coloring her cheeks. All it took was a few sentences from Changeling to cause her to flush.

"He's the guy you like, isn't he?"

Her eyes were wide, this time with shock, as she looked away from his communicator and into his eyes. Like she had forgotten he was in the room. Love could do that to anyone…maybe not Batman, but that guy had a thing for justice…and sexy anti-heroines.

He was digressing.

With a smirk, he leaned closer to Raven as he continued to tease her. "Is it cause of the ears? I heard the chicks dig them."

She returned his smirk with a soft glare, but he noticed her blush was still there.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Is it because I'm right?"

She didn't answer him. He feigned shock as he pulled back from her.

"Oh dear. Am I making you uncomfortable with that question? Best way to get over that is to just spill out what I already know."

He chuckled as her glare intensified. He was enjoying teasing her.

"I know you have another mission on the side, Arsenal."

That made him stop.

"What?"

"I said, I know."

"How," he asked. He straightened his body and shifted into interrogation mode.

"Because you gave off the same emotions as Nightwing did when he is going off without telling the team. I get it, I understand. You don't want to worry your teammates. You don't want to get them in harm's way. Nightwing was like that too until I confronted him."

That was interesting. He pried, "What happened?"

"He came in, battered and in pain. It was a good thing I crossed his path and healed him before he got to his room or else he was just going to suffer through the pain and not tell us. I let him know that I knew when he was leaving and he needed to tell me why before I let the whole team knows his secret."

She paused for a bit, a small hint of a smile on her face like she was reminiscing, before continuing.

"So he confessed to me. Now whenever Nightwing needs to go out, he lets me know first. That's my one thing. Whenever he leaves, he has to let me know. That way at least someone knows of his whereabouts."

She stood from the bed and made her way to the closet. She took off her cloak, placed it on a hanger, and then placed the hanger back into the closet. All while doing this, she continued talking.

"That's why you wanted Nightwing. You knew if anyone would understand you having another mission, it would be him. Either that or you figured you knew him enough that you would be able to sneak around him and keep him busy on the main mission while you worked on your side mission."

Even with her back to him, he could hear the slight hint of a smile in her voice as she added, "Then you chose me because you wanted to be a smartass. And you know what, I don't mind."

She made her way back to the bed and sat back in her previous spot. She looked him in his eyes and it seemed as if she made sure she had his full attention.

"I don't mind at all that you have another mission, Arsenal, because it's important to you, just as Nightwing's is important to him. I don't care, as long as you let me know when you leave."

"So…what's Nightwing hiding?"

She huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm not going to tell you. That's his secret just as much as your mission is your secret."

"And how exactly do you know my secret?"

She hesitated for a bit, before sitting up tall and starring him in the eyes.

"Because I allowed my soul self to follow you sometimes while you're on patrol"

He almost laughed at her hypocrisy.

"You were following me? What, you don't trust me?"

She shook her head as she replied, "That's not it."

"So why are you following me?"

"Because you're a Titan."

He raised an eyebrow to that, obvious disbelief displaying across his face, even with his mask on.

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"But it does."

She took a deep breath. She seemed to be preparing herself, as if she was about to pour her heart out to him.

And pour it out she did.

"When I came to Earth, I was alone and scared, mostly because of the prophecy. But then, the Titans were formed and I wasn't alone anymore. I was still scared, of course, but I had hope. The Titans helped me through some hard times. They are my family."

She reached a hand out and took one of his. She gave his hand a squeeze and she gave him the smallest trace of a smile.

"All of you are. Even Terra. Sure, she betrayed us and hurt us and she had her secrets, but don't we all. At the end of the day, she tried to save us. Her heart was in the right place and that's what's important. That's what matter to me. You all matter to me. That's why I followed you. I can't lose another family member. You're important to me."

He felt a little flutter in his chest. No matter how often the Titan's placed their life on the line for him, it still got to him to hear it come from their mouth.

Especially Raven.

"You're still a hypocrite."

And that is Chapter 14. I do apologize for both the sloppiness and the lateness. But I do hope you enjoy this chapter! I promise you that I won't quit this story. I'm actually happy with this story. Please review.