Disclaimer: No, I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter 53

Raven stepped soundlessly into the common room, illuminated by the breaking sun as it rose over the horizon beyond the glass wall. Raven had seen that sun a hundred times. The gentle ripples on the bay, reflecting back the glints of morning light. She didn't need to look up to know the way the sky turned peach and honey blue as Jump City began its day. A day like any other day. And Raven was thankful for each and every one of them.

It didn't seem like it to most, but down, beneath the glibness of her negative remarks, Raven was grateful. Grateful to be with her friends, grateful to be contributing to a society that valued, rather than feared her, grateful, more recently, just to be alive. Just to be able to enter that very common room each morning, and sip a simple mug of herbal tea - it didn't matter if Beast Boy spilled it, or if Robin came in and broke the silence, or if Starfire or Cyborg invaded her space - Raven felt so ridiculously lucky to be exactly where she was - even if she never truly showed it. Her emotions were dangerous, after all, and she wasn't about to jinx it all with bubbly smiles and joyful proclamations. Raven knew that it was always when things seemed to be perfect, that the entire world began to collapse.

Perhaps that was why the kids had been sent to them in the first place. The Titans had been too happy, and the universe had set out to destroy it. The same way they turned Malchior into a dragon, and Terra into a traitor, and haunted Robin with the ghost of Slade even after he had been defeated. The titans were home now, after besting the Brotherhood of Evil, after becoming heroes in Tokyo, after Starfire and Robin finally admitted their feelings - and their good fortune had been punished. Raven should have known better than to be happy. They all should have.

Still, Raven couldn't help but feel the faint pull of a smile on her face, as she looked out towards the water. Her view was the same one it was most days, and the silence as the Titans' other members slept was calming and familiar. It was hard to imagine that, less than twenty-four hours before, Ravager had come through like a goddess and reduced them all to powerless husks.

Raven's gaze drifted across the room. It was barely even damaged. Just some skewed furniture and unwashed dishes. It looked more like the aftermath of brunch than an enemy attack. It was almost like they hadn't tried to stop Ravager at all. Raven shook her head, inwardly berating herself. She could have tried harder. She could have attacked the bots earlier. She could have done something. Or would Ravager have simply forced one of the bots onto her back as soon as she prepared to strike?

She lowered her eyes. Robin was the only one who'd even made a dent in Ravager's facade, and even then the only things he got from it were bite marks and a mouthful of his own blood, which was currently staining the floor by Raven's feet. She grimaced at the image of Ravager biting into Robin's lip, licking the blood away. Robin had kept his cool, but she couldn't blame him for spitting out some blood onto the floor afterwards, eager to get whatever trace of Ravager he had on - or in - him away. She would have done the same.

Remembering herself, Raven levitated the dishes and the waffle iron into the sink, and moved the chairs back into place. It was a weak effort, but at least the kitchen would look tidy. Someone would still have to wash up and, she stepped aside, do something about the floor.

"Mo-yawwwn-rning Raven," Beast Boy smiled sadly as he and Cyborg stepped through the entryway.

"You're up early," she noted, heating water for her tea.

"We've been up all night," Cyborg informed her.

"Beast Boy convinced you to join him?" Raven stated more than asked, and Cyborg nodded.

"Something like that."

Cyborg headed for the kitchen while Beast Boy frowned, sniffed at the air, then morphed into a dog, sniffing intently at the floor.

"Haven't you stuck your nose in enough things for one day?" Cyborg asked, only half-joking.

"Did you find anything?" Raven asked, putting a teabag in her mug.

"Nothing," Cyborg shook his head, "but it was better than just sitting around waiting for something to happen," he shrugged, "and at least now we know a few more places they aren't."

Raven nodded.

"Dude," Beast Boy wrinkled his nose back in human form at pointed at the stain Raven had noticed before, "can someone clean that up? That gross iron smell is making me sick," he held his stomach.

"Why don't YOU clean it up?" Raven suggested.

"ME?!" Beast Boy guffawed, "why don't YOU?! I was the one who was out all night sniffing garbage so we could find the kids!"

"And I was here all night resting so I could actually be helpful when Robin asks us to come up with a plan."

"Oh yeah? Well..."

Cyborg tuned out the bickering as he approached the spot. Though incapable of controlling his body, he was still very much aware of what was happening with their fight with Ravager, and witnessed the expulsion of fluid from Robin's mouth. It was gross, but, as Cyborg suddenly realized, it was also faintly possible that it could be just the thing he was looking for.

"...could've actually-"

"You think YOU could have done better?! I-"

"Move over, Green Bean," Cyborg muttered as he pushed Beast Boy aside to give himself more room to kneel beside the dried blood. Wet samples would be better, sure, but he would work with what he had.

"And YOU-"

"Hey, Raven," he called, "can you get me a DNA collection kit from the med bay?"

"Hey!" Beast Boy cried as she disappeared into a portal, "we were in the middle of something!"

"Y'all can talk about which one of you's the worse parent another time."

Beast Boy hmphed, then crouched beside his older friend.

"What's so special about Robin's blood, anyway? Do you think Ravager, like...did something to it?" His eyes widened, remembering the way Slade had once plagued his own blood with nanobots ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"No," Cyborg pointed at the spot, "I think Ravager is in it."

Beast Boy furrowed his brow.

"Uh...are you saying Ravager's been in there the whole time? Did she...shrink? And what'd she do with the kids?" He asked as he stood back up and started pacing, "was it a robo-Ravager that took them then? Or a hologram? But holograms can't pick kids up, right? And you can't fight them, can you? Otherwise how'd holo-Ravager fight us and bite Robin? And how-"

"Exactly," Cyborg stopped him, she bit Robin."

"And...?" Raven reappeared, handing Cyborg the kit.

"And when you bite someone, saliva from your mouth gets into the bite site."

"So when Ravager bit Robin..." Beast Boy started uncertainly.

"...her saliva ended up in his mouth." Raven finished.

"Ewww," Beast Boy grimaced.

Raven raised her eyebrow at the reaction.

"You...haven't kissed anyone, have you?"

Beast Boy blushed angrily.

"What?! Of COURSE I have!"

"It's called "swapping spit" for a reason."

"Really?" Beast Boy asked, then shook his head to wipe the shocked expression off his face and added, "I mean, yeah, I totally knew that."

"Sure."

"Well how would YOU know?! It's not like YOU'VE ever kissed anybody!"

Raven's face remained impassive. Beast Boy's eyes widened.

"Wait? Have you?!" He turned to Cyborg, "have YOU?!"

"...uh..."

"Am I the ONLY one who -"

"So," Raven redirected the conversation, "if Robin spit after Ravager bit him, then the stain on the floor probably has her DNA in it?"

"Exactly," Cyborg smiled, "which means we might actually have a shot at figuring out who Ravager is."

"Or where she is."

"Are you guys seriously not going to answer me?" Beast Boy demanded.

"Do you wanna find your kids or are you more interested in knowing how many guys Raven's kissed?"

"I don't CARE how many..." Beast Boy looked between Cyborg's smirk and Raven's pointed glare, then ended with an "uh...find the kids please."

"That's what I thought," Cyborg grinned.

Beast Boy folded his arms and scowled as Cyborg took out the kit and started collecting samples.

Despite her even expression, Raven had to fight another urge to smile. Yes, things were going horribly. Her once-perfect world had fallen to pieces around her. But Beast Boy was still arguing with her, and Cyborg was still teasing him, and for a few brief moments they had all been able to put current events aside and regain a tiny fraction of what they'd lost. And Raven couldn't help but be grateful.

/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\

Robin took a deep breath, as he often did before steeling himself to open his eyes and meet the day. This time, though, his nose was met with something like a wall of fibers, preventing him from taking in the anticipated amount of oxygen, and filling his senses with the smell of -

"Star?"

Robin opened his eyes and tried to shift so he could see her face, but found himself unable to move, due to her tight grip around his chest.

"Star," he used the hand not currently pinned beneath her torso to shake her shoulder, "we have to get up."

"R-Robin?" Starfire's eyes fluttered open, and Robin's heart all but broke as he saw the joy with which she smiled at him and hugged him closer, abruptly die as memories flooded back, so that her brow creased as she pulled her arms back and turned away.

"Star," he watched her as she sat on the other end of his bed, facing the window, "we...should probably get up."

She didn't respond.

"Starfire?"

Robin crawled towards her, until his hand could touch her shoulder. But as he reached out, Starfire stood, wrapping her arms around herself.

"You...don't have to come out now, if you don't want to," Robin tried to be understanding, but couldn't stop himself from adding, "but every minute we stay here is another minute Ryan and Marie are still with Ravager. I just-"

"You are right," Starfire dropped her arms and turned back towards him, "I will not let the Ravager do any more of the damage."

"Damage?"

Damage was impersonal. Cyborg wouldn't call scratches on the T-car "damages" - he would treat them as a personal attack. He'd cry out with his fist in the air, declaring that his baby had been assaulted. Yet here Starfire was, referring to the little boy she seemed to love at least as much as Cyborg loved his car, as something to be swept up with the chaos Ravager had caused when she released Plasmus and Cinderblock and Overload - damages. Just an incidental.

That wasn't the Starfire Robin knew.

"She is a threat to our people," Starfire stated, "and we cannot allow her to become something that we are not capable of defeating."

"Aren't you...concerned about Ryan?" Robin blurted.

Starfire was correct, of course - Ravager had to be stopped. But why wasn't she crying about her missing kid? He'd seen her absolutely inconsolable over having to give Silkie up, and here her son was taken and she didn't care? Something didn't add up.

"I possess much of the concern," Starfire affirmed, with minimal emotion, "however, I have realized that the people of Earth are no less important than he is. It is our duty to protect them," she continued, "and, at the present moment, defeating Ravager is more important than the rescuing of Ryan."

"But...he's your son..."

"As he is yours," Starfire nodded, "and you were right," she said again, "our people need us. Ryan and Marie arrived, and they prevented us from doing what we have promised. Our job is to protect the people of Earth and the people of Jump City. Ryan...is a distraction," she swallowed, as if the words were still stuck in her throat, "we must focus on what we must do. Not what we want to."

"What do you mean?" Robin stood up from the bed and stepped towards her, "what do you want?"

"What I want," Starfire said hotly, "is to have the bumgorfs here where they belong. To be happy and have the love and the fun with their family and never be forced to leave ever again," she paused, regaining her cooler demeanor from before, "but that is not what is best for our people," she stated again, "we are needed by more than just two of the children, and we cannot forget our duty."

Robin closed his gaping jaw, "but, they're our kids," he grabbed her arms pulling her towards him, "it's ok to be upset - you're allowed to care."

"And yet," Starfire removed his hands, "you did not care when you said they had to be sent away."

"I didn't mean sent away with Ravager!"

Starfire sighed.

"You said that we cannot continue to protect, if we had to do the raising of the bumgorfs," Starfire recalled, "and I believe you are correct. Thus, we must first destroy the Ravager, and only then can we attempt to retrieve them."

"But..." Robin countered, "there's no guarantee we can even beat Ravager, what we have to do is rescue the kids, then we can-"

"Then they shall do the distracting and Ravager will gain strength and we shall not be prepared when she attacks."

Robin was quiet. She was using his own logic against him. Finally, someone saw the whole situation from his point of view...and he hated it. Because he was right. Like always. But he was supposed to be the voice of reason. Not Starfire. Starfire was meant to be idealistic, and loving, and kind, and hopeful...and...she wasn't going to be any of those things if she kept talking like that. Yeah, Robin was supposed to be the voice of reason. But everyone else had their own roles to play. That's why they were a team - everyone's different contributions mattered. That's why they weren't just cold-cut predators taking down villains without ever sleeping. Because Robin wasn't the only one with a say. Because he shouldn't be the only one. They were a team, not a dictatorship.

"That makes sense," Robin responded, "but that doesn't make it right."

"There is no right and wrong, Robin," Starfire held his gaze, "there is only responsibility."

"You want to be responsible for Ryan and Marie getting tortured?!" Robin's voice rose.

Starfire didn't wince, but her frown deepened, and her eyes flickered, almost imperceptibly. Of course, nothing was imperceptible to Robin.

"I know you don't want that," Robin took hold of her arms again, "I know you-"

"You know nothing."

Starfire's glare pierced Robin's mask, and, as her eyes bored their way into his own, he realized - he'd never told Starfire about his eyes. He'd told Beast Boy how similar they were to his mother's, and how much he tried to shut her memory away, and Starfire had come into the room at some point and might've heard, but he'd never told her. He'd never told her about his parents. Never mentioned what happened on the worst day of his life. He'd never told her the details of how he started fighting crime. She had no idea that he grew up in two completely different worlds, with two families whose members were nothing alike. He'd never suggested that she meet the man that adopted him, or the old gentleman that raised him. He hadn't ever wanted to invite her back to Gotham - in fact, he dreaded the idea that she would ever even pass his mentor on the street. He wanted Starfire to stay in the world that he controlled, where the events that changed his life would never ever happen to another child, because someone had failed to apprehend a villain. A world where bats stayed in their caves. A world that Robin knew, deep down, without a fraction of a doubt, that he would give up in a second if it meant his parents could come back.

Robin knew all of this, and Starfire did not. The girl he loved, the one who cared the most, and forced and pleaded to be let into his heart. She knew nothing. And what did Robin really know about her?

He hadn't known she'd had a giant for a nanny, and she never told him what happened to her absent parents. Were they even alive? Did Blackfire do something to them when she took over the throne? If she did, then why didn't Star care? Robin could name at least ten different Tamaranean dishes, at least twenty Tamaranean words - but he could barely list five personal things about Starfire, from before the Titans. Because, the same way Starfire lived in Robin's carefully crafted world, removed from the chains of the past, Robin lived in hers. It was a shared world, one the Titans had each helped to craft, with only the knowledge that they wanted each other to have. About who they were, now, and not then. Because it was painful, and dark, and they allowed each other to forget.

But Robin loved Starfire. She was his closest friend, his favorite teammate, the literal, green-glowing light of his life - shouldn't he know something? Shouldn't he at least have asked? But he hadn't. It was easier to just pretend they had no past without each other. So yeah, Robin knew her favorite color, and her favorite foods, and all about her fascination with the world of fungus - he knew things the other Titans couldn't, like the taste of her lips, and the way she felt as she snuggled against him. But he had no idea what made her who she was. He'd seen a glimmer, just now. A veiled flinch, like a punch to the gut. One that, apparently, was not, because of Ryan. And Robin couldn't even begin to guess where it came from.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, dropping his hands.

"As am I."

Starfire turned and walked out of the room, and Robin's eyes followed her.

"I want to know, though," he said aloud, not sure whether or not he hoped that she would hear him from the hall.

"No," her voice trailed back to him, "you do not."

/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\

"I'm HUNGRY!" Marie hollered.

"You'll only eat if you can conquer your opponent."

"What's coon-ker?" Ryan asked, from the opposite side of the wired ring.

"To conquer is to defeat," Rose stepped between the children, "and to defeat, is to destroy."

"Destroy is like break," Marie stated.

"Very good, my little Witch," Rose smiled.

"That's a bad word!"

"Don't call her a witch!"

Ryan and Marie yelled simultaneously.

"Oh?" Rose smirked, "and why shouldn't I?"

"Because," Ryan repeated Marie, "it's a BAD WORD."

"Well," Rose feigned a sigh, "I suppose you'll just have to get used to it, won't you, Beast?"

"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!" Marie shrieked.

"You're not apposed to be MEAN!"

"Mean?" Rose laughed, "how precious."

"You ARE MEAN!" Ryan cried again, visibly upset at being ignored.

"On the contrary," Rose kept her eyes averted from the boy, "I've been a perfect hostess. I've given you your own rooms, new clothes," she gestured to their custom outfits, each outfitted similarly to her own, "I think you should try and be a little more grateful."

"Nothing here is great," Marie said sassily, "our rooms don't even have any toys in them!"

"An' I didn't have a pillow," Ryan said.

"And no blanket," Marie added.

"Those are luxuries you have yet to earn," Rose informed casually, "now," she continued, more harshly, "stop procrastinating. I expect one of you to be unconscious within the next thirty seconds, or neither of you eat today."

"What's un-con-test?" Ryan sounded out.

"It means," Rose said, losing patience, "that one of you ends up on the floor, because you used your powers to attack each other and one of you was knocked out."

Ryan took a moment to process what Rose said, but Marie immediately cried, "I'm not gonna hurt Ryan!"

"His name is Beast, from now on," Rose smirked, "just like yours is Witch."

She couldn't have them using their real names. If she was going to raise them to be soulless apprentices, they had to relinquish all connection to their past. Besides; it was rather amusing to watch the way they fought her on it. She had to admit, she was impressed with their resolve. Was it because they were the spawn of heroes? Or were all children equally as stubborn?

"DON'T CALL HER THAT!"

"It's her name, Beast," Rose reiterated, "you're under my control now," she grinned, still giddy with the knowledge, "and I'll call you whatever I want to."

"STOP IT!" Marie demanded.

"Stop what?" Rose stepped towards the little girl, "I'm you're master now," Rose knelt to her level, leaning in, "and I can do," she tapped Marie's nose, "whatever," she tapped it again, "I," another tap, "want."

Marie growled and hit her hand away, but Rose caught her hand and pulled it behind her, making the child screech in pain.

"I do hate it when you act out like this," Rose said sweetly.

"LEAVE MARIE ALONE!"

"But if you really want me to hurt you, then-"

"ARGHHHHHHHH!"

A Beast whose height approached Rose's own leapt upon her back, knocking her to the ground. Rose lifted her legs and kicked up, making contact with the Beast's torso and forcing it back while she stood.

The Beast growled again, and lunged for her, but Rose easily jumped up and landed on it's back, grabbing hold of its fur and kicking hard into it's sides with her heavy boots.

The Beast shrieked, and whipped its body back and forth trying in vain to rid itself of its rider.

"Oh, alright," Rose sighed, "if you insist," Rose front-flipped off of the Beast, landing right in front of Marie.

"What do you suppose would happen if I were to hit you again?" Rose posed the question, as if truly wondering.

"Don't TOUCH me!"

Rose laughed and kicked her down, with substantially less force than it took to topple her biological father.

The Beast howled again, charging straight for Rose, but the white-haired woman just faced the Beast head-on.

"Come get me," she challenged, beckoning it with her hands.

The Beast came at her with full force, which, though weaker than it's older counterpart, was still significant. Especially when Rose jumped up, touching the ground again only once the Beast had driven past her, and crashed into the black wall Marie summoned to prevent herself from being crushed by it.

The impact forced the Beast's head back, and cast him, hard, onto the unforgiving metal ground. As Beast turned into boy, Marie dropped her shield and ran to him.

"Ryan?" She shook him desperately, "Ryan? Are you ok? I'm sorry!" Her eyes teared up, "I'm sorry - ok? So get up!"

Ryan's bruised body didn't move.

"Ryan? Wake up! Come on," Marie shook him again, tears starting to fall from her blue eyes, "Ryan? RYAN!"

Rose laid a hand on her shoulder, causing the child to look up.

"W-why isn't he getting up?" She asked, forgetting, for a moment, that she hated the woman, and instead treating her as she would any other adult. Hoping that they, in her time of need, would have the answers she needed.

Rose shook her head, noting the steady rise and fall of the boy's chest. Her Beast would live. The chips she inserted into them as they slept last night transmitted their vitals, if she wished to check them. But Rose was quite familiar with the subject of a fatal blow, and that hadn't even come close.

"Well done," she said instead, "breakfast awaits," Rose gestured in the direction of the dining room.

"I'm NOT going without Ryan!"

Rose picked the girl up and threw her over her shoulder, overruling her.

"Put me DOWN!" Marie's eyes glowed, and her dark energy unleashed, about to strike at Rose when a bot jumped up and attached itself securely to her back, eliminating her ability to use her powers.

"GET IT OFF ME!" Marie uselessly scratched at her back.

"Good try," Rose mocked, continuing her walk still unperturbed, "but you have so much to learn..."