For a couple of days I was recovering in Raven's room, seeing only her. I mostly spent it sleeping, but as I got better I started getting frisky.
"Why are you keeping me in your room? Wouldn't it be better if I was in the infirmary?"
"I don't trust you not to do something foolish and irresponsible" she said, frowning at me.
I frowned back. "That's a nice cop out, but it's not the real reason. What's going on?"
"Later."
"Raven, something is going on, something that concerns me and I see now that it concerns you. If you don't tell me I will go and find out myself."
"You can certainly try."
"All right, if that's the way it's going to be…" I took the blankets off myself and swung my legs over the bed, trying to sit. Again I was struck with pain, dizziness and nausea, but it was nothing compared to what I went through a few days ago. I felt like a million bucks.
"You are naked, you know."
"So what?" I replied, grabbing the headboard for support and trying to get up.
She sighed. "All right! I'll tell you!"
I looked at her, then slowly sank back onto the bed. "Well?"
"Stubborn, obstinate, ornery redhead!" she grumbled under her breath.
"Raven…"
"All right! The League is pissed off. Because of the briefcase. Robin's under a lot of pressure and you may be in deep trouble!"
"That's it?" I laughed. "Get Robin here. I'll give him the story so he can tell the League to stick it up their –"
"Would you mind your language, please?" she interrupted me, growling. "You seem to be taking this too lightly!"
I snorted. "What can they do to me that hasn't already been done?"
She shook her head. "I still think you're underestimating their power to make your life miserable" she said.
"Just get Robin and the others here, willya?"
"No. This is my room. I don't like people parading through it." She got up. "I'll bring you some clothes and a wheelchair. I'll take you to the Ops room and you can tell us the whole story there."
"Works for me" I said with a smirk.
She went out and soon returned with a bundle of clothing and pushing an empty wheelchair. I looked at it and frowned. I may have made a mistake.
She tossed the clothes on the bed. "Here! We want the boys to actually listen to what you've got to say, not stare at your… attributes."
I leered at her. "Nice, aren't they?"
She blushed and pointedly turned her back on me. "Would you mind hurrying up?"
I put on the clothes she gave me, wincing at the protest of my healing ribs and gut.
"Let's go" I said as I finished. She turned to me, looked at the wheelchair and then looked at me, arching her eyebrows.
"No way. I'm not a wheezy old paralytic. I'll walk."
She gave me a dangerous look and spoke in a soft voice.
"It is not open to discussion."
Her tone made the meaning of her words abundantly clear. I sat in the wheelchair like the wheezy old paralytic that I was.
She pushed me along. I was fuming. I couldn't see her, but I could feel the smug smile on her face.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold" I mumbled to myself.
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing. Just humming."
"Good."
We entered the Ops room to a chorus of whoops and hoots. They were all there, their joy to see me obvious on their faces. I felt a physical pain in my chest.
"Hey all!" I said, overwhelmed.
"Hey girl! Glad to see y'all in good shape!" Cyborg beamed.
"You calling this 'good shape'?"
"Compared to last time I saw you…"
"You really know how to make a girl's day, dontcha, Cy?" I told him, grinning.
"Hey, Match!" Robin said as he approached.
"Hey yourself! Rae told me the JL is giving you shit?"
"Nothing I can't handle" he said dismissively, but it was obvious that it was weighing on him heavily.
"Yo, momma, whassup? We wanted to visit you, but Rae threatened chaos and mayhem if we tried!"
"I know, BB. She gets a bit… overprotective at times" I said, casting a glance at her. She frowned slightly but refused to take the bait.
Starfire flitted down beside me. "Friend Match! Oh, I am so glad to see that you are on the way of the recovery from the hurt!" She put her arms around me to hug me, but Raven's voice stopped her.
"No hugs, Starfire! Her ribs still haven't healed!"
Starfire blushed. "That is correct. Friend Raven had already given me the warning, but it made the slip from my mind!" She contented herself with a kiss on my cheek and then flitted away.
"Let's get this done and over with, shall we? Match is still in bad shape and she shouldn't overexert."
Raven pushed the wheelchair in front of the couch and floated in lotus position beside me. The others sat on the couch, facing me, waiting.
I felt like a schoolgirl, a small blush creeping up my face. I fought it down, dismissed the feeling and started talking. I gave them the full story – my internal dilemmas, my decision and the reasons behind it, everything that happened on the roof of the Tower until the moment that Raven appeared.
"… so there I was, Slade choking me and beating my face to a pulp, when Rae showed up. She told me later that Red X warned her Slade was in the process of killing me up on the roof, so she went after him and saved me."
I could feel the tenseness radiating from her. I forced myself not to look at her, hoping the others didn't notice anything.
"Wow. Rae took on Slade by herself?"
"She surprised him and got in a few blows; he was probably expecting the rest of you to show up any moment so he opted for the better part of valor."
"Hang on, momma, you tellin' us Red X threw the briefcase knowing that you would destroy it?"
I nodded. "You see, BB, Red X and me have a lot in common. He understood that delivering the briefcase either to Slade or the Brotherhood would not be in his best interest in the long run."
"So he still did it out of self-interest" Robin said angrily.
"Judge not, that ye be not judged" I said sharply. "Matthew 7. What matters are his actions."
Robin shook his head. "I don't care. He's still a criminal to me."
"Are you trying to tell me something?" I told him as coldly as I could.
He looked up at me and realized his blunder. A blush crept up his face.
"Doesn't matter" I said finally, dismissing it all. "The important thing is that the briefcase is no more. You can tell the Justice League that Match, the infamous bounty hunter, was responsible for its destruction."
He grinned at me. "I will. Believe me, I will!"
"Good. If that is all, I will return the patient to my room. The restriction on visits still stands, until further notice" Raven said with finality in her voice. She turned the wheelchair and pushed me out of the room, amidst a chorus of goodbyes and get-well-soons.
She wheeled me to her room and helped me get into bed. She covered me and sat on the bed beside me, looking at me.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"I still don't understand" she said.
"Come here" I told her, taking her hand and pulling her close. She put her head on my shoulder.
"We all have monsters inside, Rae."
"You can't compare –"
"Yes, I can. There are people that can suffer anguish because they stole a cookie. You can't measure these things, Rae. What matters is how we deal with them."
"But –"
"Give it a rest, already!" I said, annoyed. "I love all of you, not only the good part. I take you as you are, monster and all. After all, it saved me. You saved me."
She was silent for a long while. I was starting to drift away, tired after everything that happened during the day. It had exhausted me more than I cared to admit.
"Thank you" she said finally, her voice muffled, her face buried in my shoulder.
"Hmmm? What for?" I asked, dragged away from the brink of sleep.
"For being you."
I smiled, kissed the top of her head and went to sleep.
A few more days passed. I was getting better quickly. I suspected Raven had a hidden hand in it, but I knew that any questioning would be useless, so I gave up on it. I was now strong enough to walk, even though it tired me quickly. I paced the room as much as I could, trying to recover some stamina. I started juggling disks to keep my mind in practice. It was during one of these juggling sessions that Raven walked in, catching me in the act.
"I hope you don't cut up my furniture and linen" she said.
"Don't worry" I said as I rotated four disks around each other in an intricate dance, testing my control over them.
She observed the dancing disks, a small frown on her face. "Your control seems to have improved. You've been practicing behind my back" she said.
I grinned at her, then my face got serious. "Not much else to do, is there?" I said, dismissing the disks.
She sat on the bed and took my hand.
"Match, I'm sorry, but you're still recovering. I know it is difficult for you and that you're bored, but there's not much I can do about it."
I sighed. "I know. It'll pass." I relaxed back in the bed, looking at her.
She looked back. "I need to meditate. Will you be all right?"
"Of course I will" I told her. I was happy just watching her, studying her face, her hands, her posture.
She smiled, floated up in lotus position and started chanting slowly. I watched her for a while, then grew drowsy and fell asleep.
It was already late evening when I woke up, sensing she was snuggling against me. I lifted an arm to accommodate her better.
"Sorry to wake you" she said.
"One of the best wakings I had" I answered with a smile. Feeling her close suddenly stirred my hunger for her. I wanted her, badly. I pushed the feelings down, not wanting to distress her.
She lifted her head, looking at me. Her eyes were glowing in the gathering gloom.
"As your doctor, I think that a little light exercise will do you good" she said.
"Oh? And what kind of exercise did you have in mind?"
"It involves a levitating disk."
"I see."
Revenge was going to be served very hot.
In a few days more I was well enough to start venturing to the roof, enjoying the view and the breeze. It beat being in bed by a long stretch.
I was kneeling in seiza, drinking it all in, when I felt a presence. It was not hostile.
"Hey, Red."
"X" I said, without turning.
"I was looking for you the last few days. Good to see you recovering."
I heard him saunter over and saw him sit, cross-legged, beside me.
"How is it?"
"Painful. Slade kicked the shit out of me."
"I've noticed. I also see Raven and the others saved you."
"It was Raven."
"Just she? Taking on Slade? I knew she was powerful, but…"
I cursed myself for the slip. "He was having too much fun bashing my face in. She caught him by surprise." That was certainly true. Hell, I was surprised at what I saw. Putting it mildly.
We sat silent for a few moments.
"So, you figured it out" I told him, looking at him.
He nodded. "Took me a while. You did leave me wondering."
He turned and looked at me. The filters in the mask gave his voice a metallic sound. "I started following you, both because of the briefcase and because of what you said. Looking for an opening to snatch it, and trying to see what made you tick. Then I saw you and Raven take on Overload."
"For fuck's sakes, was there someone selling popcorn also?" I snarled, suddenly furious.
"That whooshing sound was your words flying over my head."
I sighed, looked again at the waves. "Slade was also watching that battle."
He chuckled. "I see."
"Forget it. Go on."
"I saw her go down. I saw you trap Overload and then try to revive Raven. I could almost touch your anguish."
He looked away, staring at the ocean.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to go that far when I hired them" he said.
I turned to him, my fury bursting. I grabbed him by his uniform, dragged him close. He didn't resist.
"You were very close to a very painful death. Just so we understand each other."
"We do. Again, I'm sorry."
I released him. "Apology accepted."
He smoothed out his rumpled uniform. "Anyway. That's when all the pieces of the puzzle fell together."
"Puzzle?" I told him, sensing where he was going.
"It was never only the briefcase."
Ah, so he got more out of it than I hoped. Good for him. It was my turn to chuckle. "You got that right."
"So, what now?" I asked him. "You've got a pissed-off Slade on your back, and the Brotherhood will find out sooner or later."
"I can take care of myself."
I looked at him, annoyed.
"Bullshit. That kind of arrogance will get you killed, kid. If Slade really comes after you, you're dead meat and you know it. You're going to need someone to watch your back!"
He snorted, the sound comical after coming though the filters. "Who do you suggest?"
"They would take you in, you know. As long as you changed a few things."
"You mean, stop being me?"
"Am I not me?"
He looked at me appraisingly.
"You are different. But it's still definitely you." He looked over the ocean again. "But Boy Blunder would never go for it."
"You'd be surprised" I said sharply. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I've already dropped in a couple of nice words for you. Call it the proverbial foot in the door. The rest is up to you."
"I'll keep it in mind" he said as he rose and vanished.
I went back to my contemplation. I knelt there until the sun slowly touched the waves and my legs started cramping. I was still sore; it was time to go back.
I heard heavy footsteps behind me and smiled.
"Stealth was never one of your talents, Cy."
"I'll leave that sneaking stuff to you. I like to solve my problems directly."
I laughed. "Yeah. You can't get more direct than a punch of a metal fist!"
"Or a sonic blast" he said, joining me in laughter.
"What brings you to this place?"
"I was looking for you."
"Oh?"
"Yep. Y'all just missed an interesting conversation we had with the Justice League."
"I have a feeling I am going to get a detailed report on it" I said jokingly, but I could feel my gut wrench.
"You bet you will. It started pretty bad, but it ended great."
"All right, that's enough teasing. Spill it!"
"Well, it goes like this. In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth…"
"Cyborg…"
"Sorry, can't resist teasing you. But just so you don't start getting violent, here it is. They start pretty pissed off, demanding a report on the briefcase. So Robin fills them in, saying that Slade tried to steal the briefcase and that you had to destroy it in order to keep it out of Slade's hands, and that he almost killed you while doing it."
"That's not what we agreed" I said, frowning.
"I don't recall him agreeing to anything" Cyborg said with a chuckle. "Anyway, he lays it on so thick – reminds them that you almost got killed trying to protect us while we were bringing them the briefcase, and that later you tried to fight Slade while still suffering from your wounds, earning a few more in the process – in short, he paints such a rosy picture of you that they're all nodding their heads, forgetting completely why they were pissed off in the first place."
I felt uncomfortable. "So Robin's off the hook?"
"Yep. And so are y'all."
"Couldn't give less of a fuck for what they think of me, but I'm glad Robin's not going to get any more shit about it."
"I thought it would make your day" he said. "See ya later, then." He turned to leave, then remembered something and turned back. "Oh, another thing. The League was impressed with the report that I sent them detailing Darren's work. They made him a great offer and he's moving to Gotham next week."
I smiled. That was really great news. I had started to like Darren a lot and I was glad that he would find a good use for his talents.
Cyborg made to leave again, but I stopped him.
"Cy? Before you leave, help me out, willya? I'm all cramped."
He smiled down on me and scooped me up. "Why walk when you can be carried?" he said and carried me to Raven's room.
A couple of days more passed. I spent my time talking to Raven whenever I could, and juggling my disks, dozing and thinking when I couldn't. One idea started forming in my head and would not leave it. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it.
Starfire would be the best suited to help me. On impulse, I got up from the bed, still stiff and sore, and went to her room.
Luckily, she was in and answered the door almost immediately.
"Friend Match! Oh, this is such a wonderful surprise! Why are you paying me the visit?"
"Hi, Star! May I come in? I want to ask you a favor."
"Please, come in and feel as if you are present in the quarters of your own" she said happily. I stepped in, chuckling inwardly at her unique sentence composition.
"How can I be of the assistance?" Starfire inquired as I sat down, grunting.
"I have a request. I will try to explain from the beginning, so please be patient and listen to me."
She listened to my scheme, getting more and more excited every minute. When I finished, she exclaimed "Friend Match, I will most gladly assist you in the undertaking!"
"Thank you, Star. Remember that this will be a surprise, no one must know anything until we reveal it to them. When do you think you can be ready?"
Her face got serious as she pondered. "I shall require the period of a week" she said, looking at me apprehensively. "Is that period of time too long for you, friend Match?"
"Not at all, Star! A week sounds perfect. It will give me time to recover my strength a bit more. When can you start… you know, working on me?"
"I shall prepare the first selection of the concepts for the day after the tomorrow. Come then so that we can do the reviewing together and then we shall do the deciding."
"That sounds great, Starfire. Will you need anything from me?"
"Not at this time, friend Match. But do not go yet, I was feeling the starvation for your company in the past days!"
"You wish to talk to me?"
"We may perform braiding manoeuvers on each other's hair, and apply pigments to the nails of our toes!"
"Um… I'll skip the toenails, and I'm not an expert in braiding, but feel free to mess with my hair if you want. I haven't brushed it in days, and God knows it needs some attention."
She gave a small yelp of happiness, flew a loop and zoomed off to return in a moment with an armful of combs, brushes and some more sinister-looking tools. Shrugging off a small twinge of apprehension, I allowed her to play with my hair as she talked to me about everything and anything. After she worked out the knots and it stopped yanking, it started to become quite pleasant. I stopped paying attention to what she was saying and relaxed just listening to her voice and enjoying her strong but gentle fingers in my hair.
"You haven't answered me, friend Match."
"Hmmm? Oh, Star, sorry! I must have dozed off!" I felt heat rising in my face. I hoped I hadn't insulted her by not paying attention.
She giggled and I relaxed. "Sorry" I said again. "What did you ask?"
Her face got a bit more serious. "I was asking… about… you know."
I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess. Robin."
She just nodded, blushing.
"He's not making his move, and you're worrying because of it."
She nodded again.
"Maybe you should make the move yourself?"
She looked at me, her eyes wide. "I would not have the dream about doing such a thing!"
"Star, come here. Closer." She approached me. I whispered in her ear.
Her eyes widened alarmingly. "She… she did? Friend Raven did that?"
I nodded, then scowled. "You do understand that I'm telling you this in the strictest of the confidences and that I shall be extremely upset with you should you release the information. Do we have the agreement?" Why am I speaking like her? I wondered.
She nodded vigorously, then placed a hand over her mouth and giggled.
"The understanding still escapes me. Friend Raven… I would never venture the guess that she could perform such a feat!"
"Well, she realized that I was not able to, so she had to do it herself. Just shows you that in these things there are no written laws or procedures, like I told you."
"A thousand thanks for the confidence you shared, friend Match! I shall be the keeper of the secret most reliably!"
"I know, Star." I felt tired. "I should go now. I'm still weak."
"Will you not look at the state of your hair first?"
"Hmmm? Ah, of course. Do you have a mirror?"
She gave me a mirror and I looked. I gasped. Her hands went to her mouth, terrified. "You… do not like…?"
"Star, it's gorgeous!" It really was. She was a natural. My hair was shining with a deep, coppery sheen, falling on one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and partly hiding one eye, increasing the asymmetry. It was beautiful, sexy and demure at the same time. "I will make a point of coming more often for you to arrange my hair!"
She clapped her hands. "Glorious! I am so happy that you expressed the approval for my work of the hands!"
"As long as your handiwork stays like this, I will continue to express my approval. But I really have to go."
"I shall not keep you any longer, then, friend Match."
"OK, Star. Bye!" I told her and kissed her on the cheek.
I walked back to Raven's room, the stiffness leaving but my aches returning. I needed to lie down. I haven't realized how weak I still was.
I walked in. Rae was meditating. I crawled into bed.
"I see Starfire was messing with your hair" she said. She had one eye opened and was looking at me.
"Like it? I do."
She opened both eyes, disentangled her legs from the lotus position and floated closer, eyeing me critically. "It is a lot better than before."
"Come on, Rae. Anything is better than before. And it's really nice."
She smiled. "Indeed it is. Nice, I mean."
"Thanks!" I told her and yawned. "I'm exhausted. I have to sleep. Come here and snuggle up."
"I can give you a giant chicken to snuggle up to if you want!"
"Play the cool one as much as you want, but soon I'll be dragging you over to Starfire so she can play with your hair a bit."
A giant felt chicken came sailing from a corner of the room, enveloped in a black mist, to hit me in the head. I threw it back at her, missing her, and turned in the bed. I was asleep almost instantly.
The next few days I visited Starfire almost daily. We agreed on everything and I left her to her work, only popping in a couple of times to check up on how it was going and to see if she needed anything. I was quite pleased with how it was coming along.
I was just ready to pay Star what was probably the last visit before we sprang our surprise. I got up and went for the door. Raven paused in her meditation, opened one eye and called after me.
"What are you two planning?"
I turned around and grinned at her. "A surprise. So if I tell you, it won't be a surprise any more."
She opened both eyes and frowned. "I don't like surprises" she said.
"You'll love this one!"
"Whatever" she said, closing her eyes and returning to her meditation. I stood there, grinning at her.
After some ten seconds, she opened one eye and looked at me again. I was still grinning at her.
"What?" she asked, exasperated.
"Admit it. Doubt is nibbling at you. Uncertainty is gnawing at your thoughts. Suspicion is engulfing you. Incertitude is bewildering you. You want to know."
She rolled her eyes and forced them close. "Would you mind? I'm trying to meditate."
I giggled and left.
Starfire and me had everything ready. Only the last touches remained. We brought a screen to the Ops room and located it in the most convenient position.
Once we had everyone in the Ops room, Starfire said in a strong, carrying voice.
"My friends! Friend Match and I have a small surprise prepared for you. So please leave the premises for the period of five of the minutes until we have it all ready!"
She herded them all out, eliciting annoyed yelps from Beast Boy for interrupting his game, and grumbles from Raven on general grounds.
She flitted quickly back and whispered to me. "Get ready, friend Match!"
"Working on it. It's quite tight."
She giggled. "I know!"
It took me a few minutes to finish. She looked at me critically, turning me around, making some final adjustments. Once she was happy with everything, she gave me a wink and a gentle push towards the screen. I went over and hid behind it.
I peeked behind the screen. She flitted over to the door, opening it and calling everyone back in. I hid again.
I heard her ordering everyone to their seats and briefly arguing with Beast Boy who obviously tried to continue his game. Finally there was silence.
"Friends! We wish to introduce to you the new superhero of Jump City, the Blade of the Crimson!"
I rolled my eyes at her mangling of my new name and walked out from behind the screen. I was wearing a spandex suit that covered me completely to the neck, but was so tight that it left literally nothing to imagination. It was crimson, with a wide diagonal green stripe, setting off both my hair and my eyes. Two elliptical blades crossed behind a disk, done in crimson, were placed on a field of green on my chest as my new symbol.
Beast Boy turned into a wolf and started howling. Cyborg's jaw almost hit the floor. Robin's eyes were huge. I was a bit concerned and hoped Starfire would not notice or hold it against me if she did. Raven scowled.
Cyborg closed his mouth with a snap. "Girl, do you put that on or do you paint it on?"
"So, whadda ya think?"
"New superhero? You mean…"
"Yep. Meet Crimson Blade, fighter for justice."
"That's… great news!" Robin stammered. "It's certainly unexpected!"
"You are NOT going out dressed like that!" Raven growled, slapping Beast Boy on the head. "Stop drooling!"
I smirked at her. "Says the girl with the skin-tight leotard and the bare legs!"
"I wear a cloak!" she said loudly, a shade of pink coloring her cheeks.
I walked over to her, took her face in my hands and kissed her, to the whoops of everybody. "Jealous?" I whispered.
"Of course not!" she said, the pink deepening slightly. I kissed her again, looking at her steadily. She dropped her gaze. "Oh, go ahead and do what you want!"
I frowned. "I was hoping you would like the idea" I said softly.
She looked up. "I do. I really do. You just… surprised me."
"I meant to" I told her and kissed her yet again. She smiled, and I knew everything was right.
Cyborg was looking at me appreciatively. "Girl, that outfit will have all male villains stop and stare at you until the cops just walk in and pick them up."
"I hope they don't arrest me, too, for public lewdness!"
Robin walked over. "Congratulations, Match! You've made the right decision!"
I looked at him. "I know. But I have to thank you – all of you – for helping me reach it." I grinned at him. "And it's Crimson Blade from now on!"
The next weeks were quite busy for me. I had to find a place to live, since I could not stay in the Tower forever. I finally found a small house with a large, walled garden for training, sufficiently isolated so as not to worry about nosy neighbors. I had more than enough funds from my last assignments to buy it and equip it, even though it reduced my liquid assets alarmingly. I shrugged it off; if necessary, Match could always perform a couple of odd jobs – as long as they were relatively legal.
Cyborg helped me out with the security and we wired it directly to the Tower's alarm system. Any trouble and I'd have the most badass group of superheroes at my beck and call.
He also helped me set up an operations center in the basement. He wanted to link it to the Tower's mainframe, but I vetoed it. It was too risky.
"If I need to look for something that I don't have, I'll just pop in" I told him. "You're like ten minutes away."
"You're right, I got a bit carried away" he said, grinning. Then the grin dropped off his face and he continued working on the network installations.
"Something's on your mind, Cy."
"Damn right it is" he said, still working, not looking at me.
"Anything you'd like to share?"
"Maybe."
"Why don't we skip over the waiting and the awkwardness and you just spill it?"
He put down his tools, got up and looked at me. "It's Rae."
"What about her?"
"She's been moody, cranky, rude and unreasonable."
"So what else is new? We are talking about Raven, aren't we?"
"Don't try to hide from it. You're hurting her."
My gut wrenched, my chest constricted. "Wait, she is thinking that I'm… leaving her?"
"That's Doctor Cy's diagnosis."
Shit. "Cy, I was so busy with all this crap, I confess I was neglecting her… But I had no idea it would amount to that much!"
"I've known her a lot longer than you. She is strong, powerful and can keep her cool in the most difficult situations. But in these matters, she's completely lost. There was this time, once…" he shook his head. "I shouldn't be telling you this. Hopefully she will. But you have to be very careful about her feelings towards you."
"I think I'm going over to the Tower and talk to her" I said.
"I have a better idea. Take the rest of the day off. And tomorrow, too. You two go places and do things. I'll cover for you."
I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "You're the best, Cy!"
"Of course I am. Now go!"
I turned to leave. "Match!" he called after me. I turned to look at him. He was unusually serious.
"Never hurt her. Never make me have to choose."
I walked back to him, putting a hand on his metallic shoulder.
"Cyborg. Believe me when I say that if I ever hurt her, nothing that you could do, nothing that you could even imagine would compare to what I'd do to myself."
I turned and ran off.
I placed my fingers on her door and waited. Soon it opened. I walked into the familiar gloom, looking for her.
She was meditating, or at least pretending to do it. I knelt in seiza in front of her, waiting patiently.
She opened an eye.
"Hi."
"Hi, Rae."
"Need anything?"
I nodded. "I need to tell you I'm sorry." I took her hand into mine. "Cyborg had to beat it into my thick skull with his steel fist before I understood."
She smiled. "It's no matter. You have a new life ahead of you. I'm happy for you."
"Raven, don't do this to yourself. Don't do it to me, to us!"
"Do what? I'm just… happy for you."
I was getting desperate. I wasn't reaching her. "Rae, nothing matters to me more than you. I can't see you like this. I'll scrap it all, stay with you."
She frowned. "No, you can't do that. I know it is important to you. You have to build a new life, start from the beginning, not carry left over baggage."
I squeezed her hand with both of mine. I willed all my anguish, all my despair, all my love to flow into her. And another feeling, that I was just becoming aware of.
Anger.
"Baggage? Is that what you think you are to me?" I said, my voice rising and starting to shake as my anger grow hotter, threatening to explode. "Do I have to tell you what you mean to me? Can't you fucking feel it?"
Her eyes narrowed. White flames lit up in their depths. "Don't use such language when speaking to me!"
I blew up. "I'll use any fucking language I want! What are you afraid of? Why can't you just rip those fucking chains apart and spread your wings already? Have I taught you nothing?"
"Enough! Leave me!"
In a split second my rage turned from blazing hot to icy cold.
"You want me to leave you to your misery? I will. You want me to go so you can continue to wallow in self-pity? FINE!"
Her eyes blazed white for a few moments and then the fire winked out of them. Anguish gripped me. I overdid it. She would just clam up even more and I'd lose her forever. I felt my heart being torn out.
"Rae, please…" I tried, desperate.
She just fell on me, her arms going around me, her head burying itself in my chest. I hugged her fiercely, my body shaking.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I can't lose you. I can't."
She spoke softly, her voice muffled. "No. I've been an idiot. Thank you for showing me."
I kept her in my arms for a long time, afraid to let go, waiting for the storm in my soul to subside.
I finally calmed down enough to push her gently away, looking into her eyes.
"We really need to get some self-confidence into you. You're as fragile as Murano glass. I can't keep on tiptoeing around your feelings like this" I told her and hugged her with all my might.
She smiled and buried her head in my chest again.
I let her find comfort for a minute before I spoke.
"So, what do you want to do this afternoon?"
She looked up. "Don't you have stuff to do?"
"I took the afternoon off. And tomorrow. So choose your fate."
"I feel Cyborg's subtle hand behind this" she said with a smile.
"I told you he had to beat some sense into me" I said.
"I'm glad I'm not the only clueless one."
"Yeah, yeah. Rub it in. Now what shall we do with all this free time?"
The communicator buzzed. Robin's voice came through.
"Mumbo is robbing a bank! Uploading coordinates!"
"You just had to ask!"
Author's Note: This concludes officially the story of Match. Maybe there will be more stories about Crimson Blade, I don't know.
The story was a blast to write, but even better was that I received a lot of great feedback. It helped me and it helped the story.
On the flip side, it has drained me quite a bit. I will take a week or two off writing. I have a few story concepts whirling around my head, but this time I want to rest first, then prepare much better.
Match was written mostly on a spur-of-the-moment basis. Almost nothing was planned ahead, and I think it shows. But it had taught me a lot of things, so it was definitely worth it.
Finally, a big thanks to all that followed the story to the end. I know you had to suffer through a few crappy chapters in the beginning and I hope the later ones made up for it. Match would not be what it is without your support. Cheers!