Author's Note: Omg, I bet you guys are waiting in suspense for this one! Dun dun duuunn. Lol. But yeah, it would have been up last night but ff.net had some problems with their system or whatever. So… here it is now. Enjoy, my dear readers, enjoy.
To Rini Suichi: I never said there wasn't going to be a sequel. ;-)
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Chapter 16: End
The end has come at last!
What salvation for those in woe.
But is it really over, dear?
Alas, thou'll never know.
"End" Azar to Raven Roth
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"What'd you trip over, B.?" His voice trailed off as he followed Beast Boy's horrified gaze.
"Jesus Christ." He muttered, eyes wide.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!" Beast Boy cried, near hysteria, kneeling.
Cyborg cocked his cannon and fired it straight into the air.
"This… oh my god." Beast Boy was still whimpering. Cyborg kept his cannon on for a full minute, just to make sure that Starfire could see it. He switched it off, watching numbly as it folded in on itself and became his hand again. He looked down again.
Beast Boy hadn't tripped over a rock or a fallen tree limb, not at all. Cyborg wished to God that he had, that this was all an illusion and they weren't really seeing what was before them. But it was real. All too real.
Robin lay sprawled out on the slab of stone, head bloody and arms and legs at odd angles. The red, yellows, and greens of his uniform were smudged and muddy, and parts of his cape ripped and torn. Singe marks dotted his skin and put even more holes and tears in his already tattered clothing. The "R" emblem on his chest was cleaved from his clothes, hanging by threads. Blood ran steadily from a gash in the back of his head, hidden beneath a mop of limp black hair, all gel washed away in the pouring rain. It colored the stone on which he lay, a thin, washed out sheet of crimson paint that spread, only to be rinsed away by relentless beads that splattered heavily on the landscape. His mask had fallen away, and his eyes, a deep brown and world-weary pair of eyes that had seen too much and were too wise for his age, were open in shock and pain. The mask lay, floating like a feather in a little puddle of water.
Somewhere inside him he knew there was no chance that Robin was still living, but Cyborg couldn't just stand there stupidly. Cyborg knelt next to the weeping Beast Boy, placing his index and middle fingers on Robin's cold neck and feeling for a pulse. He waited. None came. Still in denial, he removed his hand and shook it senselessly, not really knowing what he was doing. He put his fingers back on Robin's neck again, waiting for the reassuring thump of a heartbeat next to his jugular vein. None came.
Cyborg swallowed the lump in his throat and looked toward Beast Boy, who returned his gaze with a look of confusion and pain. Neither knew what to do. Their leader, no, their friend, their wonderful, always-there-for-you, can-do-anything friend, was gone. There was no one calling the shots now. They were lost.
Cyborg fired his cannon into the air again, and the two sat down on a rock, avoiding gazing at their cold friend, and letting the barbs of rain hit them with everything it had.
Starfire watched in horror and awe, head craned upward, as Trigon seemed to crumble from the inside out, a brilliant white light eating at his skin like millions of insects gnawing away at a hunk of flesh. Suspended extremely high in the air, Raven's body jerked. Her arms and legs spread wide, and she jolted forward, a deep red seeping from her eyes, fingertips, mouth, and it seemed even her pores. The crimson optics she'd previously owned disappeared, revealing smoking white almonds. She shrank in size, monstrous black tentacles slurping back up into her chest. The cloudy form of Trigon was pushed from her body and out into the air, where the particles drifted away with the mist, but not before screaming vengeance…
Starfire shook herself from her reverie and raced forward, catching her friend as she fell from the sky, unconscious. The rain was ebbing away, but it still pounded on them with miniature hammers of wetness. Both girls were soaked to the bone, hair dripping and clothing drenched. Starfire laid Raven on a slab of rock, kneeling beside her and gently tapping the side of her ashen face, whispering.
"Please, friend Raven, you must wake… You forced the tyrant out all by yourself, you must gain strength."
Raven was so still that Starfire began to panic. She put two fingers next to Raven's throat, feeling the steady heartbeat against them.
"Thanks to the skies." Starfire sighed quietly with relief. She shook Raven's shoulder. "Come, Raven, we must go. We must hurry."
Raven moaned, wincing and opening her eyes, only to scrunch them shut again as the rain dropped in uninvited. She weakly waved a hand in the air above her.
"St – Starfire?" She mumbled, sitting up weakly and bracing herself one shaky hand on the rock behind her and the other on her swollen belly. "Whoa." She grabbed Starfire's hand.
"Feel this." She instructed, directing her friend's hand to her stomach.
Starfire place her hand tentatively where Raven had said and jumped when she felt a kick against her palm. She withdrew her hand, positively beaming.
"That such a small thing can make one joyous!" She exclaimed, temporarily forgetting the horribleness of the situation around them.
Raven smiled, then grimaced. She took her hand away from the rock to inspect her palms, but fell backward. Starfire grabbed her before her head could hit the hard material behind her and Raven gave her a grateful look, much chagrined. Gently propping her weak body against a slanted rock so that she could sit up without Starfire's assistance, she brought her hands to her face, inspecting them. Taking a deep breath, she chanted.
"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos."
A small trickle of black slipped from Raven's index finger, waving like the flame of a candle. But a second later, the rain and wind blew it out, leaving a smoking remnant on the tip of her finger. Raven sighed, wincing when the simple exhalation of air ran past her throat abrasively, and shooting pain burst in her chest. Starfire worriedly flitted around her, not quite knowing what to do.
Raven breathed in slowly, telling herself to heal from the inside out. A lavender glow encircled her, crackling slightly, and she visibly strengthened before it faded. She moved to stand, but Starfire pushed her back down.
"Really, friend Raven, do you believe you are of good enough health to move around after such an ordeal, and so far with child?"
Raven gave an exasperated noise.
"Starfire, I have no time to be tired right now, we have to –" She stopped when a brilliant blue beam shot upwards into the sky, piercing the blackened storm clouds and evaporating the wind and rainfall. Starfire gasped, and scooped Raven up.
"Starfire, wha – AHHH!"
Starfire gave no time for refusals or protests, but sped off toward the source of the beam; Cyborg. The scenery was a blur as the rushing Tameranian carried Raven around the isle.
"Starfire, can't we –" But she was cut off yet again as Starfire spoke.
"Look!" She cried, pointing. Cyborg and Beast Boy sat next to each other, faces expressionless and silent. There was no friendly kidding now, no teasing jests that came with their companionship of one another. Their faces lifted slightly as Starfire skidded to a stop in the air, placing Raven in Cyborg's arms. Raven embraced Cyborg, locking her arms around his neck and whispering into his ear as tears of relief washed Cyborg's face. Beast Boy watched them with a resigned look, uncharacteristically silent, not making any jokes.
"Where is he?!" Starfire broke in, dislodging Raven's embrace and shaking Cyborg's shoulders. Raven looked away from her friend with a sort of guilty countenance, as if she herself were the cause of what Starfire was about to see. "Where is Robin? Tell me, please!"
Cyborg stiffened, then looked away. Raven was sobbing against his chest, somehow able to let loose her despair.
"Over there…" Beast Boy answered for his mechanical friend, and Starfire turned and looked at the rocks. Her face fell, and her heart broke. She ran toward the body of the leader of the Teen Titans, kneeling beside him and hoisting his cold form into her lap. She felt his neck for a pulse in denial, like Cyborg, then stared in disbelief at his face. His deep brown orbs looked up at her and she shuddered, closing his eyes and howling, a voice so filled with pain that the others winced and their own hearts cracked a second time. The downpour seemed to part for her, and the wind seemed to cease for her, and the sea seemed to stop its roar in reverence of the frantic girl. Her tears were a downpour in their own right and she ran her fingers through his black hair, feeling it for once without gel spiking it up.
Removing her hand from his short hair, she gasped. Her hand was soaked in blood, dark and thick. It slowly slid down her fingers and her forearm, dripping off the end of her elbow as she watched in horror. She burst into a second torrent of tears and cried, bringing Robin's body up and cradling it in her arms, helpless, hopeless…
TT TT TT
A week after the incident, Raven was recovering surprisingly fast, and though the atmosphere was incredibly different and strained, the Titans were trying to live out their lives. The hospital had proclaimed that the baby was perfectly fine, which brought the Titans a happiness that filled in the void just a bit.
"She is the savior of the world, Raven." Starfire had said. "Of course she has lived through this unscathed."
But today the Titans had things to do.
The funeral was a solemn affair. Bruce Wayne attended, as well as the Justice League, and city officials and peoples of great authority. The Teen Titans stood in the front row of seats, having a clear view of the urn where the ashes of Robin's body were. It was held outdoors, in a park provided by Mr. Wayne. Robin had always loved the outdoors. The sun was shining brutally, as if to make up for the torrential storm that Jump City had just experienced, but it seemed harsh and unforgiving to Starfire. The few clouds that drifted through the sky meandered aimlessly, spitefully taking the shape of things that reminded her of Robin. A bird, a mask…
The minister was speaking.
"And now, we have some people who would like to say a few words…"
Starfire stood, wearing a black dress that reached her ankles, and a black hat that blocked out most of the sun. The steamy rays hit her bright red hair and shone on her emerald eyes, making her look beautiful even in mourning, and she became the object of many looks of affection from the men at the funeral. This infuriated her so that she had to use the techniques Raven had taught her long ago to maintain a calm demeanor.
At the podium, she began to speak.
"Robin… I loved him. I still love him. He was my best friend. He will always be my best friend. He… died…" Her voice choked. "In saving my friends and me. I owe him so much, including my life. He saved me so many times, and helped me when I had troubles, and was always there for me to reassure me when I thought I knew nothing of Earth's ways. I still know very little compared to what Robin knew, but he was teaching me all he could. He was my greatest friend." Starfire's voice cut off again, and she could feel the tears building in her emerald eyes.
The audience was silent, listening to Starfire's emotional tribute to the teen hero. A bird trilled in the pause.
"I blame no one except Trigon for the de –" Again, she could barely speak the word. " – ath of my best friend. I love all of my fellow Teen Titans no matter what happens, no matter what we go through." She paused to spare a smile, weak but genuine, at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. Raven, who still believed that her father's horrible deeds were somehow her fault, smiled back gratefully, though her eyes were full of sadness.
"Robin will never be forgotten. He was loved, is loved, and will always be loved. He will always be Robin…" She looked around at those congregated underneath the tent, which brought shade, though little pinpricks of sunlight glaringly burst through the weave. "He will always be my hero."
There was a silence, and then a single person clapping. The sound echoed in the clearing and heads turned to see who had started the ovation. Bruce Wayne stood in the back, halfway in shadow, clapping loudly and steadily at her words. His clapping was joined by the Teen Titan's clapping, and soon the entire tent had erupted in applause at her sentiments. Bruce Wayne slipped away, but not before glancing one last time at the alien girl. Starfire looked at him, eyes shining with thankfulness, and he tipped his hat at her, and vanished.
A bird trilled in the background.
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TT
Author's Note: Alright, there will be people who will absolutely hate this chapter… but it works for the story. :-) Anyway, I think it was a pretty powerful one. Hope you enjoyed!
Next up, Epilogue… but before then…
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