Wings Of A Butterfly

Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: T
Song: Wings of A Butterfly -H.I.M
Couple: Raven/Robin
Disclaimer: I don't own the song or the Teen Titans.
Other: First angst piece in a while. For Pip, who asked that I do one with this song even though I'm not such a big H.I.M person. (It's now stuck in my head)One-shot, R+R!

Heaven ablaze in our eyes.
We're standing still in time.
The blood on our hands is the wine,
We offer as sacrifice .

Come on, and show them your love,
Rip out the wings of a butterfly.
For your soul, my love,
Rip out the wings of a butterfly.
For your soul.

Raven looked up to the sky, although nothing was sinking into her eyes. It had been a long day- Too long, too full of bloodshed and villiany from even the side of the heros.

After all, today was the day the tabloids screamed for removal of the heros for what they'd done. What I did, she added bitterly to herself, seated alone on the roof of their home, her fire gone from her eyes and her position, shoulders hunched and hands limp in her lap.

She could still hear the words they'd said earlier to her.

"Raven, how could you!" Beast Boy was staring at Slade's body even as the press showed up, berating her loudly. "I can't believe this!" Silence greeted him as she fell from her knees into a silent kneeing form.

"I helped," Robin admitted, moving in front of her as if to shield her from their view. "She's not the only one who did something wrong here."

"We're supposed to be heros!" Beast Boy yelled back.

"Leave them alone, Beast Boy," Cyborg said calmly. Starfire was peering over their cybernetic friend's shoulder as if not quite sure what to believe.

Robin chased after Raven as she turned away and moved away from all of them, the first tear falling along with a black cloud of wasted, uncontroled emotional energy.

Raven snapped herself out of it as best as she could. She was still shaking, still lost in the feelings that coursed through her body. "How could I...?" She echoed the question but it still didn't have anymore of an answer than it had before.

Her hands were clean now, but still they felt dirty, as if her crimes were too great and she'd gone too far down to ever come back.

I'm not a hero...

"That makes two of us."

"Robin?" She turned to see him standing there, unaware he had been there, that she had said the words aloud. "What are you doing up here?"

"Enjoying the last day we're probably going to have here." He dropped the newest of the tabloids on the roof between them and had a seat next to her, brushing his black hair away from his face as he spoke.

This endless mercy mile,
We're crawling side by side.
With Hell freezing over in our eyes.
Gods kneel before our crime.

Come on, lets show them your love.
Rip out the wings of a butterfly.
For your soul, my love.
Rip out the wings of a butterfly.
For your soul.
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
Don't let go,
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
For your soul.

The headline glared at her: 'Titans Methods Declared Unconventional- Heroes Declared Too Young To Protect Our City' "Following the abuse of their power that involved the murder of a long-sought after criminal, people are starting to question the experience of the youthful Teen Titans. Some feel that they should be removed from public office in order to..." She stopped.

There was no speech between the pair of them for several moments. "So this is it? I screw up, lose my temper one time, and they blame it on all of you?" Raven seemed to freeze up.

"Don't blame this all on yourself, Raven," he said automatically. "It's bad enough that we're in this situation without you feeling bad..."

"We're heroes who commited a crime. How do you explain that? Was it bound to happen eventually? How can we figure it out when we...?"

"He would have killed everyone there, Raven."

Slade was moving in on Robin, on Starfire, and Beast Boy, and Raven had lunged forward, attacking him with everything she had, clawing at his face, her inner demons getting the best of her despite the yelling of her teammates until...

Slade flung her roughly to the wall, only to be attacked from the side within seconds by Robin. No one knew what was happening until he crumbled between them.

Raven remembered nothing but her own revolsion. "I... I never meant to..."

"It's not your fault. Please stop blaming yourself." He reached over and put his arm around her shoulder and they stopped like that for a few moments.

"But what are we going to do? We deserve punishment..."

"I don't know, Raven."

Silence.

Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
Don't let go
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)

For your soul.

"Well, I prefer to think of it as an accident," Robin said finally.

"An accident?" Raven asked, eyes confused. "But Robin... Everyone's right."

"So you're going to let them tell us how to do everything we've ever done? You're going to let them tell us to let murderers kill and liars lie? Are you going to let them tell you not to rip the wings of corrupt dreams away than living for justice?"

She let him hug her, his arms bringing her closer. "But Robin..."

"You have to let this one off you. Don't worry about your soul or the guilt. You didn't do anything."

And then, as if given a new strength, Raven stood back up in Robin's arms. "Come on, let's go."

Wings of a butterfly somewhat resembled their steps, light and carefree. Because we weren't wrong.

Sometimes you have to rip at something else to save your soul.