(A/N) YAY! I have 25 reviews! I'm so happy, and people are reading my other stories too! So, here's chapter 20, just like I promised. Oh, and if you aren't the anonymous jerk who left me a random and un-called-for review, skip the ranting at the bottom of the page.

Chapter 20: Free From Most Chains

Raven woke up with a thin ray of sunlight shining in her eyes. A tiny split in her curtains allowed the sun to penetrate the dark walls of her room.

"Ugh..." she moaned. Her entire body felt like one large bruise. 'That battle really took a toll on me. I hope Robin's feeling better.' she thought. She managed to summon enough strength to get up. "I need tea," she said to no one. So she glided out of her room and out into the kitchen.

"Damn," she cursed. The battle had destroyed half the kitchen. She rummaged through the pieces of cabinets and drawers until she found a single box of tea. 'Mmm...rasberry zinger. Haven't had this kind in a while,' she thought. Unfortunately, she had no way to boil water. She was so racked with exhaustion that she just leaned against the half-demolished wall and sank to the floor, still clutching the box of tea.

'I don't know what to do! I want tea, I have tea. I just don't have water. I want tea! Is anyone here to help me? Where's Robin? Is he alright? Starfire isn't...oh, Starfire!' As she remembered her now deceased friend, she started crying quietly. The tears turned into sobs as the pain of the last day washed over her. All of the destruction, all of the agony weighted down on her, and she cried her heart out.

"Raven," said a familiar voice. It was Robin. He looked as tired as Raven felt.

She looked up, her face tearstained and her eyes reddened. "Oh Robin! It hurts so much! I feel terrible, like I could have saved her, or I could have prevented it! I should have left ages ago. You are all in danger as long as I'm around! I don't want..."

"Shh..." Robin quieted her. He sat down with his back against the wall next to her and held her close as she sobbed on his shoulder. "We want you here with us, Rae. If there's danger, then we'll take it. We're superheroes, right? Danger is our middle name. Besides, there's less risk of danger now that your father is gone, right?"

Raven nodded slowly. Robin wiped away her tears with the hem of his cape. "C'mon, I'll get you some nice hot tea, and we can start planning a funeral for Starfire."

All of a sudden Raven gasped. "Robin! I felt really sad, and nothing is broken! I just poured out all of my emotion, and nothing happened! I'm free! I'm free to express myself!" She smiled happily. Then she scowled. "But thanks to my father, the main person that would have celebrated with me is dead," she spat. "Thanks to my father, almost everything I've ever loved has been taken away. You and Cy and BB are all I have left."

Robin nodded, then added, "You know, we're not all you have left. You brother and sister are back, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I completely forgot they were here! Where are they now?" Raven asked.

Robin shrugged. "I dunno. I told them to find some empty rooms. They could be anywhere. They might have left, for all I know."

"We didn't leave. Odium, here, didn't wake me up when he said he would," said Vastus, who was standing in the broken doorway to the kitchen.

Her brother defended himself by saying, "Hey, my alarm didn't go off! It's not my fault. I woke up just as late as you did."

"It doesn't matter," Raven interjected. "You're here, and you're not evil. That's all that matters. We have a lot of catching up to do, am I right?"

"Hey, slow down Rae. We want to hear this, too," Cyborg said. His body was damaged, but he was ok. He was carrying Beast boy in his arms, because the green shapeshifter had broken his leg in the battle. He couldn't walk with the kind of cast he had. So Cyborg was his transportation.

"Yeah, you can't hear someone's life story without us! What if they decide to be Titans? We definitely want to hear this," Beastboy said weakly. He meant every word, but his body was frail. He started coughing, and blood came up.

Raven stood up, moaning as she did so. Every step was painful as she walked towards Beast boy. She put her hands on his chest, and her hands glowed blue with her healing powers.

"Hey, thanks Raven!" he said sincerely, his voice much stronger now. "Cyborg was going to have to do surgery to fix my lungs, but now he doesn't have to. Raven?"

Raven was swaying where she stood. The world around her seemed to be spinning. Suddenly firm hands held her, and she relaxed, and drifted off to sleep. She snuggled closer to Robin's warm body, unconciously. He sat down, still holding her, and placed her carefully on the floor with her head on his lap. He stroked her short lavender hair.

"So...I guess we can't hear those people's story now. Who are they, anyway?" Beast boy asked.

"Oh yeah! You didn't meet them before! Cyborg, Beast boy, meet Odium and Vastus, Raven's previously evil brother and sister."

"Whoa! I didn't even know Raven had siblings! Do you have powers like her?" Beastboy asked.

"Yes, but hers are stronger. I have no idea why. WE were the ones that followed in father's footsteps, and the power we have comes from father. It doesn't make sense. Father was powerful and brave and smart..." Odium stopped. "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

"He killed our teammate and dear friend, Starfire," Robin said softly. His eyes filled with unshed tears. His lower lip quivered, and tears spilled down his face. He choked back sobs. 'I'm the leader, I'm supposed to be strong. Can not bawl in front of my team. I have to stay strong,' he thought to himself. He was trying to stop the tears, but they just kept coming.

Cyborg's human eye teared up, and so did Beastboy's eyes. Cyborg wept silently, and Beasboy didn't even bother to control his crying. 'I'm sad that she's dead, so are they, so it's ok to cry,' was his logic. Raven opened her eyes and sat up. 'What's...oh, they're all crying. Except my brother and sister. They didn't even know Starfire. They never had to eat one of her puddings, or see her smile every day, or listen to her silly questions about earth customs, or...' Raven started to cry again. 'Dang! Why am I crying so much? I'm supposed to be the unfeeling one. Good thing my powers are under control.'

But a VERY unwanted visitor chose that moment to appear. The visitor, Anaisaku, was going to destroy the Fledglings when they were weak after the battle. But what he saw when he arrived made him stop. He looked at the team crying in the kitchen. He saw Robin and Raven, the two evil malevalent terrible vampires, crying! 'What is this?' he thought. 'These two vampires are mourning the death of a MORTAL? Why? Maybe they aren't as evil as I thought.' He considered this for a moment, then shook his head. 'No, they're just pretending. Their teammates expect them to be sad, so they're just pretending to...sob uncontrolably.' He frowned. His instincts told him they were genuinely sad. But all of his training as a vampire hunter told him that they were evil and uncaring.

Suddenly Raven looked up and stared at him. "Anaisaku. Vampires can read minds, you know. If we're so evil and uncaring, then why is the world still full of people?"

Robin looked up with his tearstained face and told him, "Just go away, ok? Leave us alone!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Anaisaku said, his exterior calm even though on the inside he was in turmoil. 'Do they really feel? Are they not as heartless as I thought?' He stood there with an angry face, waiting for the vampires to make the first move.

Finally Raven's temper got the better of her, ans she stood up. "GET OUT!" she yelled, and blasted him out of the building with her demonic powers. She groaned in pain as she sank to the floor, out of energy.

"Man, we'll never recover from the battle at this rate," Robin said. "Cy? Are you strong enough to carry Raven back to her room?"

Cyborg nodded. "Here, come along with me," he said.

Robin stood up slowly, feeling dizzy. He ran his hand along the wall as he walked towards Raven's room. Cyborg carried the unconscious Raven to her bed and set her down gently.

"G'night Rae. I hope you feel better when you wake up," he said softly. He turned to face Robin. "She's like the sister I never had. Take good care of her, Robin."

Red-faced, Robin nodded. Cyborg walked out of the room and the door shut behind him. Robin walked to the side of Raven's bed and kneeled next to her. 'She's so beautiful,' he thought sleepily. He fell asleep next to Raven, and it's a good thing he did. Something unexpected happened the next morning...

(A/N) Dundundun! What's going to happen? Ahahaha! A cliffy! Don't worry, this is the last one I'll have for a while. Ok, you can skip this next part...

I'd like to extend tender thanks (cough-cough) to the SoB who left an anonymous review saying "vampires are whores." (my voice is dripping with sarcasm as I say this, fyi) It really brightens my day to hear from people who are unable to appreciate what the authors of fanfictions do, and leave anonymous reviews because they are to cowardly to say it to the author's face. I really don't mind anonymous reviews, because I know what it's like to be too lazy to log in...lol. But to those jerks that go around leaving random messages like that, I can only say one thing; go to hell. Excuse my language. And just so "?" knows, I do know there is an alternate meaning to the word "vampire." There are alternate meanings to many words. I choose to ignore alternate meanings.

Sorry. I hope this doesn't happen again so you don't have to skip over my annoying ranting...I think I'll be quiet now...