1A/N: Sorry for a long delay but my current activities are not very conducive to dealing with any type of intelligent thought. SoulBurn and Raven talk. Keep in mind that Raven believes it was her anger that took control of her. She does not know that it was in fact her actual Father working through her to kill Malchior. She does not know that her Father already knows her feelings for Robin. Kind of sad that she keeps Robin away to protect him but in reality, the enemy already knows how important he is to her. That's got to suck. A small good moment for Raven. Even she gets one right now. Well, hope you enjoy this one. I more or less wrote it twice because the first one sucked. Also, I decided to do something a little bit differently. I hope it will work out

Ch. 13: Guilty

Raven P.O.V:

Another day had passed and I had yet to find the answer to the hint Malchior had given me. It bothered me that I felt the smallest bit of satisfaction being the cause of Malchior's untimely demise. I should never feel satisfaction over something so wrong. Thankfully, there was a deep guilt within me. The guilt reminded me that I wasn't a killer. Slade was a killer. My father was the killer and I would not become him.

Going against every fiber of my being, I was sleeping a little bit because I had promised Robin. I was still afraid my anger would find some way to take control again. I believed that by restricting myself from anything that might make me emotional, I would never be weak enough for my darker side to surface. It was not a side I wanted to face again.

Unlike Slade and the real form of my Father, my dark side knew all my secrets. It knew what I secretly craved and desired and knew exactly how to use that information to hurt me. It had used my feelings toward Robin to make me destroy Malchior. It was a horrible feeling to lose control like that, but the worst part of it was that my dark side had corrupted the warm feelings I had for Robin. It twisted and manipulated those feelings, taking possibly the last pure thing within myself away. I was tainted through and through. Robin…I'm so sorry.

I rarely allowed my thoughts to drift specifically to Robin, though at this moment I allowed myself a small bit of forbidden emotions. Emotions were not something I could afford right now. It was getting harder and harder each day to maintain control. I was spending more hours meditiating than I would have liked and was not getting promising results. No matter what I did, I could feel the darkness within me growing and I knew I was running out of time to find out this truth about the prophecy. I let out a deep sigh and thought of my reasons for continuing the fight. The Titans. Seeing them laughing and joking at dinner helped calm the raging darkness within me though they would never know that. It gave me strength to push on. I would find a way to protect them.

Today at dinner I noticed that Robin seemed to be in a better mood than he had been. Of course I knew his entire depressing state was the result of my actions, but I pushed any regret I had about it deep within me. I think he understood my reasons deep within himself. He had been willing to give up contact with me to force me to eat and sleep, give up what he wanted for my safety. I was simply doing the same thing, though I chose a more blunt way of doing it. I was not allowed to be sensitive with this situation. Being sensitive meant the possibility of making mistakes, and this was one situation I could not afford to make a mistake on. I had already made enough

Following another dinner with the Titans, I immediately left for my room before anyone could stop me. I had some research to do on the prophecy before meditating and maybe sleeping. I noticed that SoulBurn had been absent at dinner tonight though that was not an uncommon occurrence. He was a lot like Robin in his behavior in that he seemed to just appear or disappear depending on his apparent mood. Like Robin, he was fond of locking himself away in the guest room or working out in the gym.

These were all facts I had picked up from the various conversations I listened in on during dinner, though never contributing. I don't think I've ever directly spoken to him since he has arrived. I can't say I feel totally comfortable around him for some reason though I hardly see him as a threat. I still stood by what I had told Robin when he asked what I thought about SoulBurn. I did not feel any direct hostility from him toward me nor did I feel the warmth he seemed to project toward Starfire, which Starfire loved to giggle about at dinner. Lets hope another strange, hormonal young man hasn't taken an interest in our resident supermodel. We all know Star loves Robin still though she tries not to show it. Another life ruined by my existence without me even trying. Why did you have to be so stupid Robin.

As I approached my door to my room I was shocked to find SoulBurn leaning against my door with his arms crossed over his chest waiting in the dimly lit hallway. Even in the low light, his hair and eyes were still visible making his presence easy to see. A part of me wanted to simply teleport into my room away from him but some unseen will guided me toward him.

"What is it that you want SoulBurn that required you to obstruct my path?" My voice was cold and strong.

"To talk Raven. Simply to talk." I felt his gaze on me. His voice was as emotionless as mine, which was no small feat.

"I do not believe I have anything to say to you, so would you move out of the way so I can go to my room. I am very busy."

"I assure you this will only take a few moments of your time Raven. There is only one topic we need to discuss." I knew right away that whatever he wanted to talk about was probably not going to help my mental state so it was best I ended this now.

"And I assure you that there is no topic that requires us to speak to each other. If you really want to bother somebody go bother Starfire. She might actually enjoy you inane prattle." SoulBurn stood up from where he was leaning on my door and step to the side. I open my door and began to walk through but was suddenly stopped by SoulBurn's next words.

"You know as well as I do time is running out, for you and all of us. We need to discuss the prophecy." It was not what he had said to me that made me stop but rather the way it was said. The words were spoken in perfect Azarthian.

However, that was impossible. The people of Azarath had all been destroyed when the entire planet exploded. It had occurred after Azar's death and my immediate exile following it. Azar was the only reason I was allowed to be there, to be trained as a weapon against Trigon. With her death the hatred and fear of me by the others who did not agree with Azar quickly boiled over. Where ever my mother was, she made no attempts to help me. They threatened my life if I did not leave. It was how I ended up on Earth. I do not know exactly how the planet was destroyed though I was sure that my Father had something to do with it. It was as if one day I simply knew the planet was no more. It had been a strange feeling to simply know my home was gone though I never considered it my home. I did wonder about the fate of the people and my mother, but even after all this time I had never found an answer.

This all brought me back to my original thought as I'm sure I had been standing there silently for at least a minute. How could someone who had to be only slightly older than me, know Azarath's language when I should be the only person in the Universe with that knowledge. The people of Azarath never, ever dealt with other worlds so with the planets destruction, the language should have died with it. If he knows the language that means he was on that planet at the same time I was, he had to be but that was impossible. I would at least be able to remember an aura as unique as his. I turned around and stared up at the taller SoulBurn, staring deep into his eyes.

"How is it that you know that language?" My voice was quiet as it was hard to form the words with so many thoughts flowing through my head. A small, emotionless chuckle came from SoulBurn.

"I could say the same thing I just said to you in a thousand different languages that I have no idea how I know them. As time has passed, some memories seemed to have seeped back into my consciousness though they are trivial things like basic facts and language one would obtain from a book. I still have no memory of myself though. I simply believed you would take me more seriously if I spoke to you in language of your home." I quickly shot back at him.

"That place was not my home." It came out with more anger than I would have liked. I quickly calmed myself down "You have 5 minutes. What do you want to know?"

"I wish to know what you know about the prophecy Raven. I wish to know what you are researching because there is the possibility I might know something about it."

"I see no reason why you should take an interest in my destiny SoulBurn." I watched his face grow very dark.

"You and I have one very important thing in common Raven. Neither of us chose to be part of this. The Titans, they have chose to stand by you no matter what. It was their choice to be a part of the coming conflict. You and me, however, do not have that choice. You have never had a choice from even the very beginning, born for the single purpose of allowing Trigon into this realm. I…I was forced by your Father and his minions to take so many lives to be sacrificed to help bring about Trigon's release."

His voice was low and filled with such guilt, a guilt I could relate too. He was forced to be a killer, just as I was manipulated into becoming. Though he was forced to kill the innocent while I destroyed a monster, we both felt guilt about our actions, for being to weak to stop them. His voice raised a little as he continued to speak.

"No matter what happens now Raven, I am a part of this prophecy no matter what I decide to do. I have unwillingly played a part in helping to bring about and I must now follow it to the end. There is no choice left to me. This destiny is now as much yours as it is mine." I slowly mulled over his words in my head.

"So you believe you might know something then that could help?"

"There is always the chance. I also believe if it turns out I do not know anything, I could be valuable help in researching because of my knowledge of languages. I believe it is a logical idea." I could not find any fault in his words. He might know something and having him research would give me more time to meditate.

"I will allow you to help me, but under one condition. You will not tell any of the other Titans about anything you learn unless I tell you its okay. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, but I need to be able to tell Robin that I will be working with you. I don't think he would be happy if he was not able to find my presence."

"Robin already knows you were coming to talk to me, doesn't he." A small grin appeared on SoulBurn's face as he nodded.

"You can tell him then that you will be assisting me but nothing else. You can start tomorrow morning, very early. I will come drop some books off I could not translate to your room. Never come to my room. Clear?" Again he nodded in agreement.

"Now if you will excuse me I have to meditate." I turned toward my room but was stopped again by his voice.

"One more thing Raven. I know it is getting harder and harder to fight the darkness within. I know you are slowly being consumed by that which you hate. One way or another, an end is coming for all of us Raven. I just want you to remember that there is something good inside you. Something as pure and beautiful as that which I see in Starfire. It may be shrouded and covered by the malevolent presence of Trigon, but there is a part of you that will always be innocent of all this Raven. Never forget that."

I did not need to see it but I knew he had disappeared in a flash of light. He was long gone before I finally stepped into the darkness of my room. He would never hear the two softly spoken words, no more than a whisper, of gratitude from me on what he had said.