Disclaimer: I own many things. The Teen Titans is not one of them. I own my brain, my Playstation 2 (That is destroying my brain), and Sword. I do not own Robin, Slade, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, or Titan Tower. Adieu.
A/N: All right this is the last chapter. After this there is no more, unless you want more. If you want more you must review and tell me you want an epilogue. If you do not tell me you want one I will not write one. Happy Reading.
Chapter Eight: Love Returns
Raven woke up with a start. She was covered in cold sweat. The dream had been so real. Sword had stood in the middle of a battlefield. He was fighting an army of metal abominations. They had been man sized with hideous metal faces. Rotting flesh draped over their wide metal skulls. It was as if they had once been living humans or some sort of humanoid creatures. Sword commanded a huge army of walking metal men. They were of all shapes and sizes.
The battle had taken place in an oozing swamp filled with dead rotting trees. But even the trees seemed to be made of corroding metal. The thick soupy muck that surrounded the feet of the armies bubbled and frothed as though it were boiling. The air had been filled with a yellowish-green gas. Even though Raven had been asleep in her bed she could feel the heat of the stifling swamp. She had smelled and tasted the vile smog that infested the slimy bog. She had even felt the thick swirling ooze around her ankles.
Her hand shot up to her chest. The stone that Sword had given her felt warm. It was as if Sword was taking her on his adventures with him. She was safe at home in the now abandoned Titan Tower yet she got to see and experience the great quests he had been on. She got up and stalked out of her room toward the kitchen. She had sealed off all of the unnecessary rooms and had perfectly preserved all of the other Titans rooms. The fridge was now stocked with her own favorite foods now that Beast Boy was not around to enforce his tofu regime. She quickly found the milk jug and poured herself a glass.
She had been experiencing these dreams for nearly two years now. One year after Sword had left she had been so depressed that she almost never got out of bed. At that point Robin and Starfire had just gotten engaged and were planning for the wedding. Shortly after that he had changed his persona to become Nightwing. Raven could have cared less. All she knew was that she had to wait at least two years to see her love again. Two more years until Sword could return to her. That was a bloody long time to wait.
But just two days before Star and Robin's wedding she had a dream. It was the first of the ones like that she had awoken from only moments ago. She sat and sipped her milk serenely. She remembered the dream vividly. She had been on a white sand beach. It looked out over an ocean. The ocean had been such a deep shade of blue that she couldn't put a name to it. It swayed and undulated as if it had a mind of its own. The twinkling stars overhead reflected off of the oddly peaceful sea. Standing just in front of her on the beach was Sword, his back turned to her, staring up at the stars.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" He had just stood there staring up at the sky as he said it.
"Yes it is." They stood there in the beautiful evening for some time in silence.
"I have sensed that you are greatly saddened by my absence." He turned to look at her.
"I have trouble living without you." She looked up at his warm face and he smiled at her.
"Then I will no longer leave you alone." She looked at him curiously. "Though I am in a place that you have never seen and could never reach I am still here talking to you am I not?" She nodded. "I will take you with me on my adventures in your dreams. You will be by my side at night and with your friends by day."
She smiled, happy for the first time since he had left. "Now I think I have heard somewhere that Starfire is trying to get you to be her Maid of Honor at her wedding in a few days. I strongly suggest that you accept. It would make her happy and it will get you out of that bed for a while."
He smiled at her and then she awoke with a dreamy smile on her face.
Raven finished her milk and thought of where the other Titans were now. They all wrote to her or called on the phone often. Last she had heard Robin was going to be a father. He and Starfire were based somewhere just outside Gotham City. Beast Boy and Terra had restarted the Teen Titans group somewhere in California. And Cyborg had started a research laboratory named Surge Inc.
She stood and walked into the den and sat on the center couch. She grabbed the stone pendant keepsake that her love had given her. It had been getting warm every night for the past couple of weeks. She wondered what it could mean. She picked at a fuzzy on the leg of her loose sleeping pants. She only wore a thin black t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants to sleep in. She took note of her appearance as she pondered the meaning of the stone's strange behavior.
She had grown considerably during the last three years. She had completed the process of "filling out" and she was proud to say that many of the city's men swooned over her. She hadn't grown much taller though. Her skin was now a healthy tan instead of the pale gray that it had been so long ago.
After a while she got the intense feeling of being watched. She stood and looked around tensely. There was someone in the tower other than herself. She knew for a fact that only she knew the access codes. That meant someone had snuck by the security system. She looked around wildly again she didn't know which way to turn. The presence was everywhere. Her breath became short as she began to panic.
After a few more moments she felt a hand on her shoulder. Oddly this comforted her. She turned slowly wondering who could do such a thing. When she came about she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Sword stood there, cool, and confident; a soothing presence in a troubled world. She took a good look at him in the dim light of dawn.
He looked different. He no longer wore his gray trench coat or black leather gloves. Even his sunglasses were gone. The sheath that held the Tefarmechtana was gone along with the sword itself. His tight green t-shirt clung to his chest and his gray sweatpants were loose around his waist. He was smiling at her as he had done from the first time they had met. They kissed and Raven fell in love all over again.
He picked her up and carried her to her room as though he had lived in the tower for centuries instead of just a few days. He placed her in the bed and climbed in with her. She turned to him and spoke.
"I am glad that you have returned Sword." He placed a finger on her lips before she could say anything more.
"You can call me by my real name now." He then bent and whispered into her ear. She giggled and they spent the rest of the night sleeping in the comfort of each other's arms.
The End.
