I would like to thank all of my faithful reviewers! Your opinions and suggestions have been very helpful in making my story better! I love you guys so much!
Q: Mysti-eyed – Can Raven heal machines?
A: Raven didn't heal Cyborg's arm. When she messed up his sonic cannon in ch9, all she did was rearrange his mechanical stuff. Then, she was able to rearrange it all again in ch11 to where it would work…does that make sense?
Raexrobin4ever – "And Robin does not, I repeat, DOES NOT LIKE STARFIRE!"
Haha! I laughed when I read that part of your review! Have you not seen 'Betrothed'? It's okay, I'm sick of the Rob/Star pairing too!
Chapter 12: 'They're just…gone.'
"Okay. Put your hand on my shoulder," Raven told Robin. For this to work, there had to be physical contact. Robin did as he was instructed. Without using her words, Raven trapped her father. Robin immediately felt his life draining away.
'Does she feel like this all the time?' he asked himself. 'I'm glad I don't.' Beast Boy saw what Raven was doing to Trigon. He morphed back into a tiger and, with Raven's powers sharpening his claws, began tearing at the skin. Robin could feel even more of his life draining away, but he didn't care. He would do whatever it took to help Raven.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"Don't be," Robin whispered back. "Just concentrate." Again, Trigon broke free and Beast Boy got out of the way.
"Cy! Star! You're good to go!" he shouted. Starfire and Cyborg fired at Trigon once more. Hopefully, it would be the last. Beast Boy turned into a hawk and scratched at his face to distract him.
"Azarath, Metrion," Raven began softly, "ZINTHOS!" She submitted every bit of energy into Trigon that she could and slowed down his healing process even more. He crouched down and gave a blood-curdling roar. A yellow glow surrounded him. The glow began to get brighter and became a blinding flash of light. Trigon's body couldn't contain all the energy that was inside of it. It grew and grew until it finally burst out. Everyone braced themselves. Not even a pile of ashes was left of him. Raven and Robin fell backwards, exhausted. Everyone else quickly ran over to them. If anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen a red, misty cloud floating away.
"Does Raven like being unconscious?" Beast Boy asked jokingly. "I think she rubbed off on Robin."
"What about Arella?" asked Starfire. She flew over behind the wall and carried Arella back over, setting her on the ground near Robin and Raven. Cyborg examined her closely and gave a short gasp.
"Is she breathing?" he asked worriedly. Starfire put her hand close to Arella's mouth to see if she could feel any air coming out – she couldn't. And Beast Boy checked her pulse – he didn't feel anything. (When Trigon died, Arella was still keeping him weak – they were psychically linked. So, when he died, she died. Arella knew it might work out that way.)
"Dude, how did she-" he didn't finish his sentence. And no one else said anything. After a while, some guards walked up to them. They were wearing black armor with red symbols on the front.
"We will escort you to the castle," the first one said. Cyborg immediately pointed his cannon at them.
"How can we trust you?" he asked. "I've still got enough juice to take y'all out!"
"You defeated the Master," he said simply. "You must be tired. Follow us, unless you want to sleep outside." He and his men began to walk away. Cyborg thought it over. He looked at Starfire and Beast Boy who nodded quickly. They didn't want to sleep outside.
"We're gonna need help!" Cyborg called out. The guards turned around and came back. Cyborg pointed at Arella, "She's…not with us anymore." The first one nodded his head and picked her up. Then, Cyborg picked up Raven and Starfire carried Robin. At least they were still breathing. Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy followed the guards to the castle with heavy hearts. How would they tell Raven?
Cyborg woke up. He had made sure that everyone had had rooms close to each other, except Raven. The first guard told him that she already had a room and he was too tired to argue. The Titans were all really more than just great friends. Cyborg considered them all to be like younger brothers and sisters – he didn't have any of his own. He looked at his arm to see how much power he had left. Even though the communicators were useless in this dimension, all of his tech worked. He was made differently. There wasn't much, but there would probably be enough for him to get home. Home! How would they get back to Titans Tower? Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Cyborg went over to open it. A small man was standing in the doorway.
"You are to come to the Main Hallway as soon as you can," he told Cyborg. He was about to continue, but was interrupted.
"How'm I supposed to get there?" Cyborg demanded.
"I will take you there. Will you wake the others?"
"Yeah, sure." Cyborg walked out and knocked on everyone's doors to get them up. Starfire came out quickly, but Beast Boy and Robin needed prompting.
"Where's Raven?" Robin asked when he finally came out. He was still a little drained from the night before. Beast Boy was just lazy.
"The guards said she already had a room," Cyborg answered. "C'mon, lets go. She may already be down there."
"What about Arella?" Everyone else was silent and looked down at the floor. Robin understood. "Does Raven know?" They all shook their heads.
"Are you all ready yet?" the man asked impatiently.
"Sorry. C'mon ya'll."
When they got to the Main Hallway, Raven wasn't there, but the guard they had met last night was. He walked over to them.
"I'm Shoc," he told them. "And I'm going to help you get home."
"So, do we get some sort of reward, or something?" Beast Boy asked. The Titans rolled their eyes.
"Beast Boy!"
"Your reward is your life," said Shoc. He smirked. "If Trigon had survived that battle last night, you would not have it now." He reached into his pocket. "But you may have these." He held out several stones that looked like prisms, but with different colors.
"We don't need a reward," Robin said. They had only come to help Raven. He shot a glance at Beast Boy, who grinned sheepishly.
"Take them," Shoc urged. "They fell out of the woman's pocket."
"The woman was Raven's mother," Starfire told him.
"Really? Then, I should give them to Raven, but-" his voice trailed off. Everyone eyed him anxiously.
"But what?" they asked in unison.
"I'm sorry, but she didn't survive the night. That battle with the Master must have-" he didn't finish his sentence. He wasn't sure what to say about it. Everyone else was silent. Tears sprang to Starfire's eyes. "We buried her next to the woman – I mean, her mother." Beast Boy couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it! Raven was not dead!
"Oh, Raven," Starfire choked out. Beast Boy bit his lip and Cyborg hung his head. The truth would eventually sink in. He knew it from experience.
'I don't believe it.' Robinthought. 'Something doesn't feel right.'
Shoc held out the stones again and the Titans accepted them. "I'll show you to the portal."
"Wait," said Robin. "Where did you bury them?"
"I'll take you there, then we'll go to the portal." The Titans followed Shoc to an area behind the castle. It wasn't much to look at. They came upon two mounds in the ground. Robin tapped Cyborg on the shoulder and gestured for him to bend down.
Cyborg bent down and Robin whispered in his ear, "Can you tell if anyone is actually there?" Cyborg brought up his scanners and checked. He could tell that two people were under the earth. He nodded.
"They're there."
'They're just…gone.' Robin sighed, "You guys ready to go home?"
Shoc led them down a very long hallway. At one point, he stopped walking and motioned for the teenagers to do the same. The Titans looked around him, but couldn't see anything. Their confusion showed. Shoc pulled out a flat, triangular object and threw it in front of him. The object struck something and then fell to the floor.
"Go ahead," Shoc told them. The Titans walked forward a few steps past the point where the object lay and stopped. Then, Shoc grabbed his device off the floor and continued on with the Titans right behind him. Robin went back and walked with his hand out in front of him until he hit something. The invisible wall was back. 'Weird.'
Finally, the all entered a large square room. One wall appeared to be decorated with stars and planets. At the far side of the room, there was an old man sitting in the corner.
"Cool decorations, but where's the portal?" asked Beast Boy. The other Titans looked at him in disbelief. How could he be like that when Raven was dead? One of their closest friends was dead! But Beast Boy still had not accepted it. He had a small thread of hope that she was still alive. Shoc pointed to the decorated wall.
"That is the portal." Beast Boy stepped forward, reached out and poked it. The "wall" rippled a bit and then straightened out. "Don't do that," Shoc ordered. Beast Boy quickly put his hands behind his back and stepped away. "Where are you from?"
"Earth," Robin answered.
"Ah, yes." Now, Shoc remembered Trigon mentioning that place. He turned to the old man. "Zephon, Earth." The old man nodded his head and waved his hand in a circle. An enlarged image of Earth appeared on the wall. "Which area do you live in?"
" North America," Robin answered again. "Coast of California." He pointed to where it was. Zephon looked to where Robin was pointing and waved his hand again. First, North America was enlarged on the wall, then California, and then part of its coast.
"Just step through the portal. You'll have to find your homes by yourselves," Shoc told them. "That's the best we can do."
"We'll manage," said Robin. "Thank you." The Titans stepped through the portal without looking back. They came out onto a beach. A lot of confused people shied away when they saw them.
"Starfire, fly around and see if you can spot the tower or the Golden Gate Bridge," Robin ordered. Starfire flew away and after a while, came back saying she had found their home. She picked up Cyborg, and Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl, carrying Robin. Then, they followed Starfire to Titans Tower.
A few months later, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games while Starfire fed Silkie. It had been odd without Raven there. No one made fun of Beast Boy like she did – no one had her personality. And fighting was different too. They still went out to protect the city, but it felt like something had been taken away. For the first few days, no one said much. After some time passed, they did start to joke around again, but they knew it would never be the same.
Robin woke up one morning, went down a few floors and found himself standing outside Raven's room. He knew no one was inside, but he knocked anyway. Even after all this time, he still hoped that it had all been a dream. He wished that Raven was still around and would be in her room. Even hearing her say, "Leave me alone," or "Go away," would be better than her not being there at all. He opened the door and walked inside. Then, he walked over to Raven's dresser and picked up her mirror
"She's really not ever coming back is she?"
Robin whipped around and put the mirror back. Beast Boy was standing in the doorway.
"It's been so weird without her here." He'd finally accepted her death as reality.
"We all miss her," said Robin. 'She finally escaped from her dad only to die. I wish you were here, Raven.'
"AAAAH!" They heard Starfire scream from above. And they heard Cyborg say, "Aw, man!" Robin and Beast Boy quickly ran to the Living Room to see what was wrong.
Author's Note: Okay, I know you must be pretty upset with me right now for killing Raven and Arella...mostly Raven, but PLEASE don't yell at me too much! You can tell me how mad you are...but do it nicely...please! Next chapter will be up soon...unless one of you hunts me down and kills me out of anger! ;)
Oh, and of course, one of my main priorities is that everything makes sense to you guys. So, if you're confused about anything, DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK.
