Raventhedarkgoddess: Yay! Reveiws! I like reveiws! Thank you for reviewing! No more babble, here's chapter two.

Chapter Two: Measuring Love

Lecita took a heavy, shuddering breath and looked once or twice around the group of the Titans, all of whom had sat down as close as they could to their usual spots while still allowing Lecita to sit in the middle. She was on the familer, worn blue couch were she had spent her first night with her sister in anicipation for Raven's life. Now the group around them was waiting for her to tell her story. Not removing her hand from Anna's shoulder, Lecita started talking very fast, sure she would be in better hands if the team knew what was going on in her life.

"Well," she started off in a small voice, "I left here and we headed straight out of town. I really didn't want to stay here and be reminded of that night...The night you guys risked everything. So we left. Well, the agency finally tracked me." Here she became a little stronger, but her voice still shook a little. "Terra and Slade were found and at first everyone thought Anna died. But then they found out that she didn't. Someone, one of her schoolmates, saw us blow town, and the agent remembered me and Anna as problem children. They chased us down and, when they found us, wanted me to give up my sister and come back for a year."

Anna stopped her for a second. "We were living in a really small apartment," she said in a gravely and yet childish voice that was stronger than that of her older sister, "And Lecita had a job. They wanted to take me, but I refused. We blew town that night, too. We ended up climbing out a window. I found a really old barn. Lecita didn't want to go in. I think she was afraid of rats. Anyway, we were asleep in there and there was this voice outside..." She broke off at the thought.

"Male and then a female voice. Don't ask me who the hell they were. I thought they thought we were tresspassing. Suddenly it got really quiet. Anna asked me if I thought the hay was hot, but I told her not to be silly. And then we noticed...The whole place was burning. We got out, and there was this paper on the ground..." Now Lecita couldn't talk and Anna took over again, having lost the thoughtful look. Now she appered almost determined to finish.

"It was a note. A fake suicide note, suppossed to have been written by Lecita. It wasn't even her handwriting, and they spelled Lecita wrong. It was terrible, what they said. They said that her life ment nothing anymore and that she was ending her life and taking mine too, so that we could be together in death. Then we relised that it wasn't an accident. Lecita and I agreed to come back here. So you could help us. You will, right?" Her voice was almost pleading.

Raven seemed to recover her head the quickest. "Well, of course. What makes you think we wouldn't? I said it once and I'll say it to you again: My friends mean the world to me." She stood up and walked around the back of the couch. "Who would think you, of all people, would commit suicide?" Lecita just shook her head.

"Raven, can I talk to you for a second?" Without waiting for her answer, Robin yanked her by the back of her blue cloak into the kitchen, hoping not to be overheard. "Raven, what are you thinking? What goes on in that head of yours, anyway? We can't risk the whole team, everything and everyone, for one thing. I mean, didn't almost dying once teach you anything?" Robin set his hand on her shoulder. "It's great that you're concerned, but I don't want you to die or anything crazy like that." Robin locked his eyes with hers for a second, and she held them there.

"Robin, I want you to hear me out. Just listen. Everyone has their limits. Mine stop at death for an evil cause. This is not my limit. I will keep going until either Anna and Lecita are safe or I'm dead. The only thing I refuse to do is die at evil hands. I don't know, Robin, if you understand this or not, but with a father like Trigon you learn to want to be anything but what he wants you to be. I'm going. I didn't say I was risking the whole team. Stay if you want. But there are some things just worth dying for," she hissed, in a soft voice that was barley audioble over the random clammer outside the door.

Beast Boy was sprawled on the ground, having fallen off Starfire's shoulders a few seconds before. Brushing her flaming red hair back, she knelt next to him. "You are uninjured, yes?" She helped him to his feet.

"Yep, I'm fine. All I know, though, is that it's Raven's turn to speak, Robin has a hand on her shoulder, and their eyes have locked like it's a staring death match." The changling brushed himself off. Lecita made a sound in her throat. "I hope this isn't my fault," she thought aloud to no one in particular.

"It is not your fault, friend. Do not feel regret or sorrow. Do not feel them for an instent." Starfire smiled, hoping that Lecita didn't feel even worse if things didn't go well between the two talking in the kitchen. Raven came out about half a second before Robin, who was still talking to her.

"Raven, things are worth dying for. But I'm just worried that...Well, you risk it all so freely, like dying isn't a problem for you." Robin met her eyes again, determined to get her to at least look at him. "Raven, you don't seem to relise that my reactions are because I don't want you to die." Robin had managed to stop her, but, instead of quitting while he was ahead, took her hand. "You know I care, right?"

Raven let her hand sit in his. "Robin, I told you before, the only way I don't want to die is at the hands of someone as cruel and merciless as my father and say I did nothing to help try to stop him. I"m trying to stop whoever these people are from rising to power. Every villan wants something, Robin. I don't want any villan to get it, no matter how great the price. I love you as much as you love me. I know that. But, if you aren't willing to let me go and do what I want, if I can't get support...Love can only stretch so far. I will die for you, but not be held back by you. Understand?" Her voice was hard, almost gravely, but it flowed over her words as lightly as a stream around the jagged rocks hidden below her voice. She knew her emotions were as sharp as rocks.

Beast Boy felt both eyes grow wide in his head, staring at the quiet Raven and the stunned Robin. Next to him, Starfire looked startled at the scene. She was questioning if she would say the same to Beast Boy or if she would have said it to Robin. Earthen love, she thought, is most complicated.

Robin sighed heavely and found that now his eyes were the ones held by hers. Her violet eyes reflected more emotion than he'd ever seen before. He gimsped love, sorrow, hatred, and...Is that pain? Does this really bother her that much? He thought. She blinked and seemed to control herself, and everything he saw was gone. "Raven, I'm not going to stop you. I'm going to come with you. Everyone is, right?" His eyes dared the team to disagree.

"Of course. I mean, come on, friends don't just give up on friends. We're all going into this." Cyborg gave them a smile that was pretty much the first one all day. Lecita was astonished to hear her own breath come out in a whoosh. She didn't relise that she had been holding it. Raven gave Robin a wordless hug and the two broke apart quickly. Robin saw that Raven was more than he had ever seen before. She's going to be hard to hold onto, he thought. Oh, who ever said it was going to be easy?

Cyborg, asending the stairs, looked over his shoulder at Lecita, who was laying herself out on the couch with Anna for the night. He smiled, because everything Raven had just said now made sense. Trying to tell himself that he was being an idiot, he followed the others up the stairs and went into his room, still smiling.

Raventhedarkgoddess: There we go. Chapter two. Good or bad?