I thought I'd give a late Christmas present...
XXXX
"You lied to us." the half metal man confronted his friend and leader after he and his skinny friend caught up with their teammate. His voice hadn't been raised yet it still carried disappointment and hint of anger.
"I did what was best for the team." he countered. "I don't have to explain anything."
"You do after you make us look like the bad guys. That's not cool Robin!" Beast Boy told him. They had been working hard, trying to establish a relationship with the half demon that wasn't based on hatred and fear. All the progress they made may have been erased by their mighty team leader. "Can't you try to get along with her?" he asked.
"I don't have to get along with Terra. I'm the leader and that means she has to follow my orders." the boy wonder opposed heatedly.
"Not when the matter has nothing to do with the team she doesn't." Cyborg narrowed his eyes at the shorter male. "And he wasn't talking about Terra."
"Raven's a part of this team." Beast Boy reminded him. "She's our friend."
"I stopped considering her my friend a long time ago." the usually masked titan admitted. "And whatever that thing in there is, that is not Raven!" he yelled, pointing toward the medical room. "It may look like her but it isn't." Robin voiced his beliefs.
"How can you be sure?" a voice asked. They had been so caught up in their argument that they hadn't heard the others coming.
"You're really taking her side then?" he couldn't believe it. He looked at the owner of the voice. The one who had spoken was his girlfriend.
"We thought we made that clear we're not taking sides." Blackfire reminded him.
"They're only doing what we think is right." her cat eyed girlfriend defended. The pink haired woman trusted their decision and thought Robin shouldn't be trying to oppose them.
"What's going on here?" Kitten asked as she and Bumble Bee too joined the others in the hall. They were all on their way to see Terra and had heard the heated discussion that the others had been engaged in. "What's wrong?" she came to her boyfriend's side after seeing how aggravated he was. The caramel skin woman did the same for her lover.
"You okay?" Bumble Bee asked her boyfriend.
"We're sorry…" the husky man apologized to the sisters. "We may have just wrecked whatever progress we made with Raven." he explained.
"What happened?" Starfire inquired.
"Robin told us you wanted us to look after Terra. He didn't tell us you already told Raven she could take care of her." he explained dejectedly. They watched as the sisters glared at their team leader, annoyance, shock, and anger evident in their features.
"You did what?" the dark haired Tamaranean could feel her blood boiling.
They had already told him there was no way they were going to change their minds and told him to leave the two women be but what did the boy blunder do? He went against their backs and concocted a plan. He didn't even care if they would find out. Her lover immediately placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her nerves.
"You're just trying to aggravate everyone now aren't you?" Jinx asked as she shook her head in disappointment and disbelief.
"I'm only doing what is right." he defended his position. Raven was no longer Raven and he would not be persuaded otherwise. "Raven the human is unstable enough but there's no telling what damage that thing in there will cause."
"You really hate her that much?" Starfire couldn't believe the depths of her boyfriend's hatred for their teammate.
"This isn't personal…" he tried to deny.
He believed it wasn't. This wasn't about him and Raven, this was about their team and how the presence of the demon endangered all their lives.
"It is. It always has been." the red head countered as she stepped toward her boyfriend.
All these years, she blinded herself from this fact. Like him, she told herself that he was doing things and saying things for the benefit of their team but she couldn't force herself to believe that lie anymore. Not when the truth was so clear. The demon was indeed Raven and there was no reason to turn her away anymore.
"I'm only doing what I think is right." he repeated, not even bothering to correct his girlfriend.
"So lying to your teammates is what's right?" Bumble Bee asked in disbelief. They could no longer deny that their team leader had been targeting Terra and Raven because he was being blinded by his anger towards the blue haired woman.
"We really shouldn't be surprised. You'll do anything to see you get what you want." she never allowed herself to see his shortcomings until now. "It's not the first time you have lied to us." the red head said, referring to the time when the boy wonder had posed as Red X in order to gain Slade's trust. He had lost theirs in the process.
"I guess that makes us the perfect couple then… a liar and a cheater." if she was bringing up past misconducts then so would he.
"After all these years, you still haven't forgiven me then." she pointed out. He was still holding onto the infidelity card. She wondered how long he'd been waiting to throw this in her face. She couldn't say it surprised her, no she had expected this sort of move from him. "You can't be blaming me for the way you feel about Raven… You've been on her case even before I slept with her." Starfire argued.
Everyone but Blackfire was shocked. Only the Tamaranean's and Robin had been privy to this information. The boy wonder had been too ashamed to confide in his friends.
For Starfire it was enough that her sister knew. It was enough that only Blackfire and Robin saw the mark Raven had bestowed. It wasn't that she was ashamed of what had happened. She just couldn't face that fact that it did happened. That she let herself be with Raven. Blackfire knew this wasn't her secret to share so she kept this from her lover, knowing Jinx would understand why this information was disclosed. This was Starfire's business.
"Is she really that good of a fuck?" he demanded an answer. In all the years since that fateful night happened, they never talked about it. He chose to forget that event and it occurred to him that the red head could have been doing just the opposite. "Answer me!" he screamed. "She has to be… why else would you start siding with her?"
Ever since that dreaded night, their relationship took a turn for the worst. Raven had succeeded for the mark she left proved to have been etched deep, residing not only on that scar above her womanhood but in their hearts as well.
"What do you want me to say?" hearing the truth would only upset him further so she didn't see the point in it.
"So she was…" he affirmed as he turned toward Jinx. "You better keep a close eye on that one, there's no telling when she'll start to wander." the boy wonder pointed toward Blackfire.
"Unlike you, I can satisfy a woman." she countered angrily. He didn't have the right to bring her and her girlfriend into this.
"Don't…" it was Blackfire's turn to calm her girlfriend. She ushered Jinx and the others out of the hallway. It was clear that the team discussion had turned into a personal one. The two clearly needed privacy to work out their issues.
"Is that what you think? That it was about the sex?" she asked.
"Of course it was!" he couldn't let himself think there was any other reason. "What else could be your reason then?" he demanded an answer. "You wanted to experiment. You were curious."
"I… It wasn't just an experiment. Neither was it an act to satisfy my curiosity." she responded.
"Then why?" it was the question he never allowed himself to ask for he feared the answer too much. "Why did you fuck her?" he didn't ask why she cheated. No, he wanted to know why her. "Of all the people, why her?" he asked, tears brimming from his eyes.
She realized the meaning behind his questioning. She recognized what his purpose was, what he wanted to accomplish, and shook her head in disgust. She had never let himself see the man for what he truly was. As they stood in front of each other, she made another epiphany. She knew why this was, why she chose to blind herself of this fact. Thanks to his question, she knew.
"You aren't hurt because I cheated." she confronted him. "What hurts is that I slept with her. I gave her myself." she pointed out. "Well Robin, you lose again." the red head felt her tears flowing as well. "It's over. We're over."
He looked at her, filled with shock. He expected words to be exchanged in the heat of anger, not this. He sank down to his knees and crawled to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist in desperation as he bawled shamelessly like a child against her stomach. She could feel his tears soaking her shirt.
"No, I'm sorry…" his voice was muffled as his face continued to press against the red head's torso. "I take it all back…" he continued to act like a petulant child. "I'm sorry…" Robin repeated.
Starfire said nothing as grabbed his arms and tore them away from her waist. She stepped back, shaking her head profusely. She refused to play these games anymore. She refused to go on being used by him. She would no longer lie to herself. She turned and without so much as a last glance toward his way, she walked away, leaving him alone in the dark hallway.
She could hear his voice, calling her back yet she kept walking. She found it was probably the easiest thing she had ever done in her life.
A weight had been lifted from her heart. No longer would she continue to deny herself the truth. She would face it head on now. She realized that she had freed herself from the guilt she had harbored all those years. With a new found sense of self, she continued to shed her tears, deciding this was one thing she could do to cleanse herself.
As tears continued to stream her face, she found that her feet had continued on. She stopped at her apparent destination. She entered the room her eyes disregarded the emptiness of the room. They remained glued to the mattress there.
She walked towards the bed that hadn't been slept in about four years. Her body became too heavy. She fell onto the mattress, disregarding the dust that broke out into the air. It didn't matter. As the red head cried against the dusty mattress, the events that occurred so many years ago on this bed kept repeating in her mind.
She didn't stop herself from remembering. She wanted, no needed, to remember. The Tamaranean princess rolled onto her back. Her hand drifted down her stomach and headed further down. She unbuttoned her jeans, unzipping them. She guided her hands down the waist band of her underwear. She pulled them down slightly, stopping when she reached the mark, Raven's mark. Her fingers traced the tattoo.
This helped her think back to what happened. This mark let her know that the night had been real. It was a piece of the blue haired woman that she was allowed to have. It was the only piece of the blue haired woman that she had, the only proof she possessed that the night had happened. It had been so long that she couldn't distinguish between her imagination and the truth.
But as she traced her hand over the marking, she remembered exactly what happened. It served as a portal to her memories and in this moment, all that mattered to her was what happened that night, the mark, and the one who had given it to her.
Once she had settled down, she pulled her hand away from the mark and fixed herself up. Starfire fixed her underwear, closed her zipper, buttoned her pants, and wiped her tears away. She headed into the bathroom, washing away the dried tears from her face. With one last glance at the bed, she exited the room.
She knew she had spent a few hours in the room, reminiscing and crying. She didn't know exactly how long but it didn't matter. It was late but she knew the other woman would still be up. She entered the medical room and found her target wide awake, reading a book with a familiar white furry creature resting on her lap. She hadn't been surprised that Luna was there with her master, the two were rarely apart.
"You should be resting." she remarked to her younger sister as she approached her. She sat on the bed beside the teen and patted the fox. After doing so, her green eyes began to scan the room for the blonde's guardian. Though she hadn't come for the blue haired woman, she wouldn't have minded seeing her.
"You alright?" the teen asked, heavily concerned. The distress was clear in the older woman's face.
"Not right now." admitted the younger princess of Tamaran. "But I will be…" she assured her sister, showing her a small smile to prove her point.
"What happened?" she never knew the red head to be so melancholy. She remained as cheerful as the day they had first met.
"I broke up with Robin." responded the older woman. This particular tidbit, she could share with the blonde since she and they were bound to find out anyway.
"Komi said you guys fought… she didn't tell me you two broke up." she placed a comforting hand on top of the older woman's.
"You're the first person I told." the others hadn't had a chance to know about this new development in their relationship since she had trapped herself in Raven's old room and her now ex-boyfriend probably was avoiding everyone as he indulged in self pity.
"Maybe it would help if you talked about it." Terra offered.
"It would…" the red head agreed. "But I don't think I can right now…" she added, squeezing the younger woman's hand with her own. "Trust me, when I'm ready, you're the first person I'll come to." Starfire assured her younger sister.
"You promise?" the teen asked, extending the pinky of her free hand to the older woman.
"Of course." she vowed as she pinky swore to the younger woman whom she had come to love and cherish as her own flesh and blood. It hadn't been hard to love the blonde.
It occurred to her that she had been blind about Terra as well. When they had first met, she had extended a hand in friendship to her, took her out shopping, played volleyball with her. But had she really tried to see the teen and get to know the person she was? No, she didn't.
She had failed to see who Terra really was underneath the tomboyish exterior. When she became the blonde's charge, she allowed herself a better view and understanding of the younger woman. It allowed her to know another side of the girl.
She saw her passion, her courage, her strength. The way the blonde gave herself to others wasn't something new. It had always been there, she just didn't really pay attention to it, to Terra. But as she watched the teen grow, she couldn't deny how helpful she was to everyone around her.
Her sense of loyalty hadn't been limited to Raven alone, like they had all thought. It was hard but she managed to remain loyal to all her friends. As long as she believed they were right, she supported them. She had an unyielding sense of justice. It was hard to argue with her since she always seemed to have a point. She was acted on emotions based on rationale, displaying such control over herself and she always fought for what she believed in.
This sort of defiant nature was something her elder sister also had. The difference was Terra was defiant for the greater good while her older sister herself admitted that she was selfish. The Tamaranean sisters both admired her for this.
True Terra had that one selfish moment when she sided with Slade but whilst she never understood the reasoning behind it, Starfire had long forgiven her for this offense. They disentangled their pinkies from one another and the blonde flashed a comforting smile her way. She immediately felt its effects.
"I can't believe you're going to make me study this weekend." the teen changed the subject.
"We have to make sure you don't get too far behind on your classes." she reminded her younger sister. "I'm sure you don't want to fail either."
"Yeah… but it's a long weekend." countered the teen.
"Which means you'll have plenty of time to finish and still have enough time to have some fun." she rationalized and the younger woman frowned. She chuckled, knowing the blonde was playing the role of the stubborn sister to lighten her mood.
"I hate school work." remarked the teen. Just because she could do it didn't mean she wanted to.
"Well, just think of this way, you only have three and something years to go and then you'll never have to go to school again unless you want to get your master's." she reminded the college freshman.
"Why does school even matter?" asked the blonde. "You didn't go to college."
"That's because I relied on my looks and not my brains, like Komi did." school wouldn't have fared very well for her and her sister but for someone as intelligent as her younger sister, college was the right path.
"Are you saying I'm not pretty enough to get by on my looks?" she jested.
"No, we both know you can get anyone to do what you want." the red head stated. "But Komi and I want you to be even more successful than us so you should finish college. You'll be the first Anders that does." she reminded her. Though they were really not related, they had truly come to love her as if she was their sister and the blonde regarded them as her family as well.
"Yeah you're right." agreed the teen.
"Well I have to get going." she told the younger woman. "I have an early flight tomorrow." Terra nodded her head, remembering her schedule. The elder titan wrapped her arms the recuperating woman and pulled her into a tight hug. She would never take anything for granted now. "I love you…" she told her sister.
"Love you too." responded the teen with honesty as she returned her the older woman's hug. "You're stronger than you think…" she whispered. "You'll make it through this." Terra assured the older woman. She knew her.
"Thanks." the red head gave her one last squeeze before disentangling herself from the younger woman. "It means a lot coming from you…" she remarked. The blonde wasn't only saying this because she cared about her, but because she believed this to be the truth. "I'll take your word for it."
"Now scoot… I'm sure you still have to pack." remarked the teen.
"Alright… get some rest okay." she advised the younger woman. "Don't stay up too late playing with Luna." she warned the blonde. The red head got up from the bed and before exiting the room she turned and gave the recovering titan a large grin.
Terra wasn't worried about the older woman. She knew Starfire would be able to deal with the break up easily. To say she was shocked would have been a lie. She had seen it coming. The blonde was surprised they even lasted as long as they did. Their relationship had been hanging on a thread and it seemed the fight about her staying with Raven pushed Kori to the edge.
The blue haired woman was a sore subject for the two, Terra knew this. She remembered back to the olden days, back when the titans fought villains, not each other.
Time had changed them all, some for the better some for the worst. In Robin's case, his insecurities grew. So desperate to prove himself, to get out of the shadows and make himself known to the world, he began a path. He followed through with his plans for success, swallowing the seeds of arrogance and pride that were on his trail.
She remembered the story Starfire had told her, the one where she went forward in time. She remembered the red head telling her that her disappearance caused the titan's to drift apart. Terra couldn't help but think the same was going on now. Only it wasn't the disappearance of someone that caused the drift this time around, rather it was the appearance of their teammate's darker half that caused the others to change.
With the loss of their beautiful bubbly teammate, the titans disbanded, consumed with their grief at the loss of their friend they all turned on each other, blaming each other and perhaps themselves for her disappearance.
The difference with the situation now was that even though they knew about her dark origins, when they actually were confronted with her demonic self, they became afraid of her power, of her. She supposed they couldn't be blamed. Humans often feared what they didn't know.
At the arrival of her other half, Raven's powers became more portent. She became a force to be reckoned with, a one woman wrecking ball. Terra supposed the fear would always be there. What wouldn't was their trust.
They trusted the human that they called Raven but they didn't do the same for the demon. At least, that was the root of the emotions the others had. They were afraid of her because she could bring so much destruction but their team leader had been afraid for other reasons.
She used to be beneath him. He used to be stronger, more agile than her. He used to be the better fighter. All that changed when her full power began to manifest itself. She became more confident with herself and her control over her powers, no longer hiding behind her books. She fought hand to hand combat. She had tactical strategies. She was level headed, always calm before heading off to battle. She never gave in to the taunting of the other villains. She displayed all the traits a great leader should have.
As she thought more and more about Raven, her mind began to drift toward the conversation they had earlier. She couldn't deny her shock. Her words kept repeating in her mind.
She never thought the gloom had reached the older woman's heart so deeply. She had thought she had observed enough, to know the blue haired titan better than anyone and she did. The thing was the half demon still had s few surprises left in her. Terra was sure there was no way she would ever fully know Raven but strangely, she didn't mind.
There were many things she did not know about the woman that she loved so dearly but it didn't matter. When it came to her, the unknown was utterly enchanting.
The teen had been preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice the presence of another in the room. The object of her affection had returned to the room and had been staring at her. She had taken Terra's silence as a sign of disgust. She did not allow herself to believe that Terra was merely shocked into silence.
"Hey... I was beginning to think you weren't going to come back here." she greeted the older woman with a heartwarming smile.
"No matter how long I'm gone for I'll always come back." Raven felt the effects of the smile pouring into her. "I can't leave you by yourself." she remarked, feeling relaxed.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of having you return?" asked the blonde as her fox jumped out of her lap.
"I came back to tell you that I'm leaving." she stated as Luna approached her. She smirked upon seeing the confused disbelieving look on the younger woman's face.
"You came back just to tell me that?" Terra asked in incredulity.
"Yes..." she paused. "And I came to tell you that you're coming with me." Raven could feel the younger woman's bewilderment practically doubling. She squatted and proceeded to run her fingers through the soft white fur, finding the spot behind the fox's ear, she began to rub her thumb over it. A positive response was received as the animal sat with her leg shaking.
"You mean you're taking me to your actual place?" she doubted the older woman had arranged for a new place for them to stay in.
"Where else did you think we were staying?" the older woman chuckled. The teen must have thought she devised a method in keeping her alter ego's anonymity from her. She was giving her far too much credit.
"Some other place." the vague reply was given.
"Don't worry. It is pet friendly." she joked, trying to appease the teen. "I told you that I have decided remember?" it was apparent the young titan needed to be convinced that she trusted her unconditionally. She received a nod from the teen. "So you're staying with me, in my alter ego's place while your sisters are away." she rehashed the plan. "Unless you want to stay under the Titan leaders watchful gaze." she teased playfully.
"No thanks. Besides, I did help move your stuff." mentioning the older woman's move from years ago. "It's only fitting that I get to stay with you." Terra replied. Besides, like her older counterpart, she couldn't stay another moment at the tower.
She couldn't help but turn away from the older woman as she remembered the conversation they had hours ago. She wondered if vengeful and carnal thoughts often ran through her mind. If so, Terra had to commend the blue haired woman for looking so calm and uncaring.
"So what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" Raven asked, sensing that her friend was far away from where they were.
"You..." came the honest reply.
"Me?" the half demon asked in disbelief. Terra nodded with a small smirk on her face. Her mind was always filled with thoughts of the older woman. Thankfully, Raven didn't know this. "What about me?"
"What you said earlier." the teen replied.
"I made you feel uncomfortable." it was the impression that the blue haired woman received. That hadn't been her intention, to unease the blonde. Truth be told, she wasn't exactly sure what her intentions had been for revealing all those gloomy thoughts.
"No…" she was interrupted.
"I suppose to you, I sounded very morbid." humans didn't always act on this emotions and to speak of it was heresy. Stones were cast on those who revealed such vile thoughts. It was irrelevant whether or not they committed the sin, all that mattered to some is that they had thought it and derived some sort of pleasure from doing so.
"Rae..."
"I'm sorry." she struggled to speak as a sudden rush of emotions surged through her. "I just thought that... I could tell you that." Raven found herself explaining as unease, guilt, and a hint of fear coursed her being.
She was uneasy because not only was she unused to feeling these emotions, but also because she couldn't think. Her mind had been clouded with guilt. It was though her humanity had taken over her body and mind. Never had she felt guilty for feeling the need to cause destruction. It was in her blood, it was natural.
Of course, she knew the source of the fear and guilt. She was sitting before her after all. The blue haired titan felt guilty because for the first time, she had recognized that these thoughts were what people considered to be evil.
Terra had to be feeling this way, seeing as the teen had such strong morals. The change the blonde had incurred within her was astronomical. She was influencing her in ways that no one ever had before. She actually felt guilty for being who she was. Her human half always felt this way, but she never did until now.
She was afraid, not of the change in her beliefs, the fact that she had grown what people called a conscience but because she feared that her confession would cause the blonde to be terrified of her in return. Raven didn't want the blonde to turn away from her out of disgust like so many others had done. She would be able to handle the rejection of others, but not Terra's. She was too important.
"Raven its' ok." the blonde assured her friend with an inviting smile on her lips. She patted the bed, motioning for Raven to sit next to her.
"I've... never wanted to say that to anyone." revealed the blue haired titan. She wasn't known for sharing her thoughts and feelings so no one ever had access to her thoughts and emotions. Only she knew them. She had never trusted anyone like she trusted the younger woman.
"Not a surprise." Terra stated with a smile. "Not exactly an open book."
"I suppose I told you because I know you're different." she affirmed. "You've stuck by me and my other half these past years. When everyone gave up on us, you didn't. You didn't harass us about what happened either. Lecture us about what we were doing." she listed all the blonde had done for her and realized again how much she underrated her.
"Well, I wanted you to come to me on your own." she reminded the older woman.
"You're special." Raven stated.
She had only realized it herself after saying those words. She had never appreciated her friend. She said she cared, but where was she when the teen had been struggling? She had broken her word to the blonde. The half demon had neglected her yet again. She had blinded herself for the last time.
"I'm sorry I was just a little shocked." Terra said in honesty.
"I can understand if you don't want to stay with me now." it was difficult for her to say these words but she wouldn't put the younger woman through such an awkward situation.
"Oh no... I still very much want to." she assured the older woman with a bright smile. The blue eyed teen cursed her self for not reacting better to what Raven had told her. It was just that she never thought that she was that far deep into the darkness. She cursed herself for not noticing. "You just didn't give me a lot of time to process things."
"It's just that people react essentially in the same manner." the half demon stated.
"What do you mean?" inquired Terra.
Raven stood straight and approached the window. She was silent for a little while, just standing in front of the glass. The blonde let out a sigh. Of course, the older woman who valued her privacy would not tell her. She was stupid to think this. Just because the blue haired woman was giving her an insight to her present didn't mean she would do the same for her past.
"There's no need to worry." the empathic demon spoke out, breaking the silence that encumbered them. She assured the teen before her after she'd felt the younger woman's apprehension rising.
"I can't help it." Terra shrugged. She didn't want to expect anything so she took the bread crumbs as Raven passed them her way.
"Worried I'd put up the walls again." she stated all knowingly. "That predictable aren't I?" she chuckled a bit. "Or maybe it's that you know me better than you have been letting on." the half demon remarked.
"I don't know about that…" she looked away.
"Yes you do." the blue haired woman countered, still wearing that knowing look on her face and her voice. "You see and know a lot more than you let on." but her tone allowed the younger titan to know she held no feelings of bitterness or distrust. What the blonde knew, she would keep to herself and her older counterpart knew that. "As you know, I came to Earth from Azarath." Raven started out, in her regular monotonic voice. "My mother gave birth to me there after Azar took her in to protect her against Trigon, her rapist and my demon father." she continued to look out the window, staring at nothing in particular. "They knew who I was. What I was. No one trusted me. Those who found out that the blood of a demon ran through my veins thought that I was treacherous. They were all disgusted by me. They all hated me. Especially when I showed them what I could do with my powers. Every time I fought, there would always be so much blood, even up until now." Raven paused. "They thought that I was a born killer that I craved for blood and hearing me confess to having such thoughts would only send them running to the hills much faster."
"Raven…" she called out to the blue haired titan.
"Even my own mother was afraid of me." she lamented. "She was right to fear me… they were right to be so afraid, to hate me so much."
Terra struggled out of her bed. Her muscles still a little sore from the fight. She succeeded in rising from her bed, determined to console her secret love. She slowly walked toward her friend. She didn't know that Raven's past so much sadness. No one did. She had no idea that the blue haired woman's loneliness reached so far in her past. She finally reached the older woman.
"Raven..." her tone was so gentle yet it had been void of pity. "They had no right to treat you the way they did." she was angry, angry at the older woman's mother for allowing her to have such a demented childhood.
She was furious with all those that had been around the half demon. They had forgotten the child and chose only to see the beast they believed resided within. They were all so narrow-minded, they didn't even care about the pain they inflicted upon the half demon.
"Didn't they?" Raven turned and saw a pair of bright light blue depths staring into her own. She was surprised that the girl was out of bed. She had been too caught up with her thoughts to notice the movement.
"No Raven. They had no right. They feared you because they were unaccustomed to seeing so much power and envied you for it. They hated you because they couldn't understand you." she reached out to the blue haired demon and caressed the taller woman's face with the back of her hand. Raven leaned into her friends touch, allowing the rush of comfort the contact brought.
"And what about you?" she whispered, a hint of fear coating her usually stoic tone.
"I..." Terra paused. The older woman turned away from her touch, thinking that she was disgusted with her. The blonde cupped the taller woman's face and gently guided the half demon's face toward hers. She looked deep into those red depths. "I don't hate you Raven. I could never hate you." she admitted. "I'm not disgusted by you. I'm not afraid of you." she could see the disbelief in her eyes. "I accept you for your attributes and your faults. It doesn't matter to me whether you're human or demon. I accept every part of you. That maybe hard for you to believe but it's the truth."
"Why?" questioned the half demon incredulously.
"Because I accept who you are." she confessed. "You being part demon contributed to the person you've become. You've suffered so much because of it. Yet you've managed to rise up from the ashes. You've lived your whole life as an outcast because neither worlds would accept you for who you are yet you didn't condemn them. You fought your father for their survival. You didn't give into him or your hatred." she reminded her. "You're strong Raven, much stronger than me."
"I don't know about that." she smirked. "You're a strong capable woman yourself." the younger woman's words and comforting caress made her feel calm and at ease. She trusted Terra and knew the teen hadn't been saying these things so that she could provide comfort.
"Then we're equals." the blonde acknowledged the compliment.
"When did you become so wise?" she asked the younger woman before her. She accepted Terra's truth knowing the blonde would be greatly offended if she didn't.
"I guess you've rubbed off on me." she smiled.
"You always know what to say don't you, Little Gaia?" the half demon placed her hand on top of the blonde's. There seemed to be no arguing with the younger woman. Her logic at times proved to be incontrovertible. She had such a keen intellect.
"I don't know about that, Nyx." she only spoke what was in her heart after all.
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Once again, I want to thank all the loyal readers of my humble fic! You've stayed with me for almost four years now! Ooh, Terra is getting a glimpse of Raven's alter ego soon... Hmm I wonder who Raven is?
A lot of turmoil going on but I think it only adds allure to the story. Starfire and Robin finally broke up! And Star really put him in his place. Everyone's evil in their own way in my fic. No one's really a hero because they're all victims in more ways than one. Anyway what do you all think so far? Too dramatic? Or not dramatic enough?
Drop a line and tell me what you're feeling...