Author's Note: OK, I know it's been a HELL of a long time! But I swear-- the next chapter is the last. Promise. Thanks for keeping up with this anyway. You guys are swell. Enjoy.
Chapter 9: The Last Great War
"When you lose a part of yourself to somebody you know, it takes a lot to let go. Every breath that you remember... Pictures fade away, but memory's forever. An empty chair at all the tables. And I'll be seeing you when all my days boil down. For now we'll say goodbye. We know it's not the last time. I've lost the best part of my days. But it's better where you're going anyway."– New Found Glory, Sonny
"Find one song, one last refrain, glory from the pretty-boy front man who wasted opportunity. One song, a song about love, glory like a sunset. One song to redeem this empty life..."– Roger, RENT!
They waited. For what they waited for, even their generals couldn't tell you. But they waited like an ocean awaiting an inevitable storm to churn its waves. They looked calm. But there was a buzz within the camp. Soldiers were restless and scared out of their minds. They all remembered the horrors of the last war.
Including Cyborg.
He hid in his tent, slouching over a desk in the corner and rubbing a hand over his old, tired eyes. Jump City had seen too much. And so had he.
This was a war. A real war. Starfire and Beast Boy, even with the wisdom that came with age, could not imagine what they were up against. It was amazing that after all these years, after all they'd been through, he still felt like he needed to protect them. Robin could always take care of himself and Raven would kill anyone who tried to protect her. Terra had always been on her own. But the other two always seemed too bright to be hit with all the darkness of the world.
And it was they who had suffered most of all.
Beast Boy's decent from his high-on-life happiness started with Terra. He grew up a little, the day that she had betrayed them, though Cyborg knew that he had never wanted to. That's why even death couldn't take away his child-like charm. He wouldn't let it. He knew what the world was made of. He had stared the Grim Reaper in the eye and seen the sorrows circumstance could bring. But he wouldn't let it seize his spirit. He had already lost a part of his innocence to Terra. No. Not even death itself could take away his optimism.
Beast Boy had told them that he really had no form. That he assumed his old one because it was the easiest and would comfort his friends. But Cyborg felt that, in truth, he really just liked being a kid. And with Terra back, he could see the life in Beast Boy's eyes again. Because with her, she had brought back that part of himself he had lost. With Terra, he was whole again. And Cyborg knew he wouldn't let that go again for anything.
Starfire's dreams were shattered with Beast Boy's bones. Throughout everything they had ever been through, including Terra's betrayal, she had always seen things with an optimistic eye. She had been their very own silver lining to everything. When in doubt, talk to Starfire, and she could always lift your spirits. But he had seen the look in her eyes when she drifted off over the sea that night. The darkness had broken her. And she had been angry that she couldn't break it back. Even now, upon her return, there was something else in her. Her smile could always make anyone feel happier, but it no longer reached those bright green eyes. She seemed as though she had lost something very dear to her and it would never return.
"You busy?"
Cyborg was jolted from his reveries by a cool voice that had come from the entrance of his tent. Nodding, he turned with a brotherly smile. "Raven," he said, his heart warming. She returned the sentiment with a smile of her own, encouraging and free of frustration. Something had changed in her as well. "You're smiling..."
"I do smile, Cyborg," she said furrowing her brow and strengthening her grin.
"You're happy." Cyborg rephrased the sentiment, but he knew that Raven had understood what he'd meant from the beginning.
"I am," she agreed. "Robin and I have reached a truce. We've discovered a way to bring down my worst enemy. Chrona is on our side. And I have no doubt that we will win."
"I've missed you," said Cyborg softly. "I don't know if I told you that since we met. I don't think I've said it to anyone."
"Where did this pointless expression of emotion come from?" Raven said monotonously, sounding like her old self. Cyborg laughed.
"You're happy," he said. "I'm not. I feel like... like this war isn't good for our team. Raven... I feel like I'm going to lose you."
"You won't lose me," said Raven. "I have you to knock me out of danger."
"Yeah, but I–" Cyborg stopped mid-sentence and frowned. He looked up at her and she was grinning wryly. "But I thought... You didn't recognize me?"
"Please," said Raven. "Do you really think I've become that arrogant?"
"You didn't even know I was in the army..." said Cyborg.
"I didn't believe it," said Raven, walking towards the make-shift bed and stroking the sheets. "I thought I was hallucinating when I saw you. I couldn't believe you were really there."
Cyborg rose from his chair and smiled at Raven's back. "I don't want to lose you again. Not then. Not now. Not ever."
Raven turned and shook her head. "I told you, Cyborg," she said. "I'm not going to die."
"Someone is," said Cyborg. He sighed. "Goddamn it, what am I saying? Everyone is! I can probably guarantee that ninety percent of the soldiers in this camp today won't be here tomorrow. Raven, the Titans have been separated for fifteen years and for what? To die in one grand last stand. A Titan will die in that battle, Raven, I can guarantee that as much as I can anything else. Most likely more than one. Maybe me, maybe you, maybe both."
"And maybe we won't," Raven reassured him, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You're a soldier, Cyborg, you knew the risks when you enlisted and you still did it because you knew that you could make a difference. But I want you to promise me something, Cyborg. If you ever feel like you can't make it, you run like hell, do you hear me? Don't be a hero, Cyborg, for once in your life, just run and get the hell out of there as fast as you can. Do exactly like you did before and I can guarantee you Cyborg that at least one Titan will make it out alive. You have to promise me that."
Cyborg looked at her, stunned. He was twice to three times her size, and yet she scared him. She was panicked, he could see it in her eyes. All he could do was nod.
"I promise," he said.
And without warning, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his metal chest. "You have to make it. You've been my most loyal friend throughout this whole thing. Maybe you didn't give me what I deserved, but you gave me what I needed. And I thank you for that."
All of a sudden, the earth began to shake, and a young Azarath demon was at the entrance to the tent, looking flustered. Raven broke contact with Cyborg immediately and went straight into General-Mode.
"General!" said the youth, his voice quaking. "There's-there's– an earthquake– an attack. Now."
"Organize the troops," she said. "Tonight we fight."
It wasn't hard to find the source of the quake. It had come from the heart of the city. The energy waves had blown over the camp, knocking almost everyone off their feet.
The Titans arrived at the center of the city where a large beam, a mile in diameter was reaching down from the sky and drilling into the Earth.
"Titans!" cackled Loki, rubbing his claws together gleefully. "So glad you could make it for the show."
"Never understood you villains," said Robin. "Why destroy the world?"
"Simply because I can," said Loki. "And it gets rid of the people I don't like. Which is everyone."
"Figures," said Raven. "You never were that social."
"Sorry to ruin your plans," said Robin. "But the world isn't ending today."
At his words, an army of thousands appeared behind them, demons, humans, and wizards, all allies in a fight to preserve life on earth as they knew it.
"I'm afraid the odds aren't in your favor," sneered Loki. "Especially with your loyalty records."
"What are you talking about?" demanded Beast Boy, angrily.
"Easy there, he's trying to distract us, his words never meant anything," Raven assured Beast Boy.
"Raven?" Starfire said, her eyes wide, staring behind her friend. "I do believe that in this instance, his words count for something." Slowly, Raven turned to see what Starfire was looking at.
High above the ground, maintaining the huge beam, Terra flew with her arms out stretched, her eyes glowing yellow and her hair flying wildly.
"No..." Beast Boy said, his voice barely a whisper.
Raven was fuming. "No!" She yelled, angrily, and launched herself at Terra knocking her out of the sky.
It was with this move that the fight began in earnest. The Light Army fought valiantly against Loki's vicious hell beasts bent on world destruction, creatures lower than low, bottom feeders of the underworld that were waiting for their time in the sun.
The Titans kicked into battle mode and took on their enemies with enthusiasm, fighting with the vigor they had been so famous for in their youth. Beast Boy impaled four demons on the horn of a triceratops; Starfire blasted anyone within a two meter radius of her; Cyborg charged his cannon and shot down five attackers in one go; Robin went wild with his sword which had slaughtered many demons in the past and was still hungry for blood.
Raven and Terra were nowhere in sight...
Loki laughed wickedly as he observed the battle from his spot safely above them. He watched as the beam Terra had helped him create continued to drill into the center of the earth. Soon, it would reach the core, upsetting the magnetic fields and erupting molten rock onto the earth. Up in the sky, It would tear a whole in the fabric of time and space and chaos would rain. Disease. Pestilence. Famine. War. The hell beasts of legend would rise at the call of the earth and swallow the sun and the moon, plunging the world into darkness. The oceans will freeze and the core will cool. And then the world will grow cold and still.
No more wars.
No more Teen Titans.
No more inferiority complex.
Just blackness and cold.
This is what he'd been waiting for. And the Titans had given him a good fight. That had been what he was hoping for. Hell, he didn't want to destroy the world if it was too easy. It just played up to his brilliance, how wonderful his plan had worked. He had defeated armies. He had defeated the famous Teen Titans. And now, he had defeated God himself.
He stared into the beam, so bright only Morlin demons had eyes strong enough to look at it. But wait... What was this shadow?
He laughed again. Beyond the light, he could make out the forms of a slender female and a young girl wrestling on the ground. At last, he had finally hit Raven where he knew it hurt– her heart. The heart he had once longed to impress. Until he realized he didn't believe in love. And that she was a bitch. One he felt no remorse in exterminating.
He had seen the way Raven opened up to Terra. He saw the way Raven trusted her, even though her better instincts told her not to. It seems trust is always given to those who least deserve it.
He wasn't sure who would win. After all, powerful as she may be in her own right, Terra was only a child, and one that had been locked in stone for fifteen years. How could she even compete against an Azarath General twice her age? It didn't matter. Loki enjoyed watching them fight to the death. And he knew Raven would kill Terra if given the chance. Killing was second nature to her now...
But wait? Where did they go? The fighting pair had disappeared from the battle. His eyes darted around. He saw citizens of Azarath getting their heads sliced off, humans being pierced by daggers, wizards being destroyed by spells, his own demons being obliterated, and Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy fighting valiantly in the mix. But where was Raven and Terra?
Terra had been the most brilliant part of the plan. He wasn't ready to miss the ending when he'd stayed for the previews.
All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain between his scaley shoulder blades and Loki was pitched forward off his thrown and into the swarm of bodies.
The crowd cleared, some demons pausing to look at their fallen leader only to be cut in half by Robin's long sword. Loki spun around to see who dared attack him, ready to snarl and literally bite of their head– only to see the girl he thought was on his side.
"Something you oughta know about me, Loki," Terra hissed, Raven standing proudly by her side. "I'm no one's apprentice."
"Fool!" Loki screamed. "You opened the portal– willingly!"
"And she can close it," Raven said. She looked at Terra. "Terra told me of your invasion of her head. We sorted it out. You needed her to open the portal– and only the one who opens it can close it forever. We couldn't rely on you to open and close it, so we sent her in, willingly, knowing. Always one step ahead."
Loki looked shocked for a moment but recovered quickly as a sinister grin twisted his features. "One step ahead, eh?" said Loki. "Tell me, Raven dear, in all your books on Ragnarok, did they tell you how you stop the apocalypse?"
"Thor," said Raven. She looked at Terra with a smile. "Ancient Morlinian for 'link' or 'lock.' Karen called Terra the link. It wasn't that hard to figure out after a while."
"No," said Loki. "Not what I'm saying. I mean how this link is supposed to stop the end of the world."
Raven's face went blank. But Terra was looking at the light, her eyes wide, a smile that was wise beyond her years slowly spreading over her face like a blanket of understanding.
"I know what I have to do..." she said.
She ran towards the light and Raven looked at Loki, now furious. "What is she going to do?"
Loki watched the blonde run, his eyes agleam. "Die trying."
Raven's eyes went wide as she realized Terra's intentions. Dropping Loki, she ran after her friend and then quickly lifted off the ground, flying fast and knocking Terra off her feet.
"You can't do it!" Raven exclaimed, frantically.
"I have to," says Terra. "It's the only way."
"Not the only way," Raven insisted, grasping at straws. "Karen said... Link, balance, martyr, key... Key. Robin. I have to find Robin!" Raven exclaimed. "Don't move!"
As she ran, she jumped over bodies of demons she had known well but ignored it. So long as her friends weren't on the ground, so long as Robin wasn't on the ground...
Robin.
Oh God, if she lost him now...
She found him fighting next to Starfire, fighting with all they had left.
Starfire saw her first and her eyes grew sad, but Raven was too preoccupied to notice. Before she could get to Robin, Starfire grabbed her and lifted her into the air, out of harm's way.
"Not now, Starfire," Raven said.
"Now is the best time," Starfire said so sternly it made Raven stop. She looked at Starfire quizzically.
"What do you mean, Starfire?"
Starfire was watching Robin, with all her heart. "I do love him, Raven," she said in a whisper that somehow Raven heard louder than the roar of war. "I hope that one day he can understand that, what I have to do... I will always love him." Starfire turned to face Raven, smiling sadly. "I did not need Karen to tell me my place. I knew what it was. I was never meant to be his. I have to let him go."
"Starfire, what are you talking about?" Raven said, getting a little restless.
Starfire looked at her sternly now. "I have seen it in you as I have felt it inside myself. It burns, it dances, it warms, but it never dies. No matter how deep you burry it, you know, you always know, that he is there, and that he will always be there. Believe me, Raven, I understand that more than anyone. I spent fifteen years burying it. And yet, I still feel the flame licking my wounds. He will always be there."
Without warning, Starfire wrapped her arms around Raven and whispered a secret in her hair. "I knew this day would come for years... I had hoped that somehow it wouldn't hurt this much. But I have known, much longer than fifteen years, that you two were born for each other. He refuses to see it. You refuse to see it. But believe me when I tell you Raven that the both of you must see it if you wish to stop this. It is something that must be done. You are the key."
Raven pulled away. "But I thought Robin was the key."
Starfire smiled and Raven was soothed because she was reminded of the younger, more carefree Starfire. "You misunderstood. You are both the key."
Raven laid a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "I love you Starfire," Raven said, sincerely, before darting off to Robin.
Starfire touched where Raven's hand had been. "I love you too," she whispered to herself. She descended into the battle and kept on fighting.
Terra looked at Raven's retreating back and then to the beam.
"She doesn't understand..." she whispered to herself. "I have to do this alone."
All of a sudden, she was knocked off her feet, and something started slamming its fists into her face with such furious power she yelled in pain. The blood blinded her, but she could hear a voice above the noise of the battle.
"... never again, I thought you learned, you traitor! You can't even get it together for the end of the world and I loved you so much..."
The punches became weaker and soon stopped all together. Terra wiped the blood away from her eyes and saw Beast Boy sitting on top of her, looking down, his chest heaving as he sobbed.
"Beast Boy..." Terra said with a weak smile. She reached up to touch his cheek but he batted her hand away.
"I can't believe I fell for you again..." he whispered.
"Beast Boy, I didn't betray you," Terra reassured him. "Please, I promise."
"I saw you!" he hissed. "I'm not that stupid anymore, OK, I may not look it but I grew up too! Or... or maybe I am. Some people never outgrow their stupidity..."
"You're not stupid," Terra said with a laugh. "Believe me. Raven and I, it was all part of the plan. You can ask her. We couldn't tell you. Couldn't risk it. I could only tell Raven when we were out of this dimension because Loki has eyes all over this one! He had to believe it, otherwise we couldn't do it. I opened it to close it, Beast Boy, because only I can do that!"
Beast Boy's eyes glittered in the starlight as he looked at her, filled with hope.
"You mean... you didn't... you never..." And with that, he fell on top of her and embraced her, rolling on the ground as she laughed. "Oh I love you, I love you, I love you..."
"I love you too," she whispered, out of breath and in pain. But she didn't care, so long as Beast Boy said those words...
But she had to do it.
She pulled herself up and Beast Boy saw the damage he'd inflicted on her. "Oh God," he said. "I am so sorry!"
Terra laughed. "It doesn't matter," she said, bravely, staring at the light beam. "It won't last long." She looked back at Beast Boy who looked confused. She took a step towards him, but hesitated and turned away. It was best he didn't know.
"Terra..." he said, slowly.
"Beast Boy," she said, turning back to him with a smile. "I don't belong here anymore. I should have died fifteen years ago."
"Terra..." Beast Boy repeated, more seriously.
She grabbed him by the shoulders. "I love you," she said. "So damn much, it didn't go away when I was trapped in that stone. And it won't go away, do you hear me?"
"No..." he said, realizing what she was saying. "Terra, you've been given the chance to live again– I would die again to have that chance! You never had a life, Terra, it was snatched away from you cruelly. You can't just throw it away!"
"I have to," said Terra, looking at the light. "It's the only way."
"No," said Beast Boy.
Terra grinned. "You sound like Raven."
"Terra, you don't understand," said Beast Boy angrily. "You have no idea what I'd give to be alive again. I've been in this ghost-like form for fifteen years, and I've seen a lot, but I've never lived, Terra."
Terra grabbed him and kissed him hard. Pulling away, their noses touching, she looked him in the eyes daringly. "Then die," she said.
And with that, she ran at the beam.
"TERRA!" Beast Boy screamed.
"Robin!" Raven screamed as she approached him.
"Busy!" he called back.
"But there's something I have to tell y–"
And at that very moment, Robin was hit with a heavy curse. Raven's heart plummeted into her stomach as a chill ran down her spine. No, she said to herself, this isn't how it's supposed to happen!
She ran to him, the man she had avoided for fifteen years, the man she wished she had been closer to, the man who understood her more than anyone else because he was exactly the same.
He was cold.
"NO!" Raven screamed, tears streaking down her cheeks. "No..."
She flew him to a rooftop so he wouldn't be mutilated by the horrors going on in the streets.
For the first time in ten years, her powers began to get the better of her, pulsing around her like a bomb ready to blow. She caressed his bruised cheek with the back of her fingers and for a moment, he was no older than that boy she had known so long ago, before the demons, before the mistakes. He was truly Robin again. No Nightwing. No broken team.
She began to cry in earnest. This was not how it was supposed to end... His head rested in her lap as she grieved and she realized for the first time in her life just what she thought of Robin.
He was smart. He was detached. He was focused. He was brave. He was a hero. He was exactly like Raven. And she respected him for everything he had ever done, because she knew that in his place she would have done the exact same thing. The reason they had hated each other so much... was because they had hated themselves. They had seen a part of themselves in each other and it drove them crazy. They had seen their love for each other and it drove them apart.
"No..." Raven whispered, kissing Robin's forehead. "Wake up, please..."
And as if by some divine intervention, he heard her.
Robin stirred and looked up at Raven, confused. "Raven?" he said.
So overwhelmed by relief, Raven grinned through her tears. "Oh my god... I thought you were..."
Robin smiled. "That old curse? Nah. Been hit with that millions of times, all it does is stun me." She stood up and helped him to his feet. He noted her tears. "Raven, I..."
"Sh," she said holding a finger to his lips and smiling. "No words. Not now. So much has been said yet so little has been understood. Until now."
"I just wanted to say," Robin said, "that I..."
But he trailed off as they neared each other. Through words, they drove each other mad. But in silence, they knew what words could never explain. His arms held her tightly to him and their eyes slowly closed.
And the world stood still for their silent soliloquy.