Robin looked for a long time at the deactivated communicator in his hands. He'd done it. He'd contacted Cyborg, and given his teammates—his friends—the instructions to get out of the city. He knew they would listen. They would be safe; they would survive. But for some reason that knowledge didn't lift the weight on his heart. Maybe he had saved them, but he had lied to them.
And they would know that. As soon as the explosion went off, they would know what had happened. They would know that he had betrayed them, tricked them into running away from their city just when it needed them the most.
Robin suddenly remembered what he had told Starfire just before he'd left to search for the bomb. "…trust me, Star…everything will be fine…"
He closed his eyes and bit down on his tongue as fury and guilt assailed his being. When he swallowed, he thought he tasted blood. "I did the right thing," he argued desperately to the darkness around him. "…didn't I?" Nothing but silence responded, mocking him.
Robin crouched there in the darkness of the city's sublevels, waiting for the end. Only his doubt gave him company as he realized that he would never know the answer to his question.
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Starfire stood near the edge of the water, breathing in the cool night air and letting the smooth sound of the small waves wash over her. Her muscles still ached, and the flesh on her hands and arms would not heal for some time, but for the first time since the explosion she felt calm, almost at peace, in a way.
She turned to her two companions, who stood nearby. "I am…sorry."
Raven blinked her violet eyes. "You don't need to be sorry, Starfire. You're grieving. We all are."
Dark silence descended on the three friends for a long moment, before Starfire voiced her decision. "I cannot stay."
Beast Boy and Raven stared at her.
"I remember so many things about Robin and how everything used to be, and my heart hurts." Starfire looked at her friends, sad but certain in her decision. "I do not want to leave, but I know that I cannot stay."
Raven continued to stand silent, her face familiar in its calm lack of emotion. Beast Boy's green eyes were wide and sad, and the pointed tips of his ears drooped.
Starfire moved forward suddenly, catching her two friends in a tight embrace. Beast Boy could not withhold a sob as he hugged Starfire back. Raven stood rigid for a moment, taken aback by Starfire's sudden action. Then she, too, raised her arms and gently returned the embrace.
Pulling back from her friends, Starfire turned her gaze to the sky, looking up at the stars above as a hint of pink around the horizon signaled the beginning of dawn.
"Where will you go?" Raven asked softly.
Starfire pushed gently off the ground and began rising, face uplifted to a familiar point of light in the slowly brightening sky.
"Home."
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Author's Note: It's getting very close to the end now…only one or two more chapters. I know it's not a very long fic, but I don't think it needs to be. After all, the whole thing is just an Epilogue, an afterthought. So I hope you'll all stick with me until the conclusion!
Special thanks to all my reviewers! TamerTerra, ducky76, Dark, Gijinka Renamon, sniff, hollaiuar, Otaku Sarri, and VashTheStampede7123, thank you all so much!
