Elloo all and welcome to the next to last chapter of 'What is to Come'. Good news, I've written a bit on the last chapter, and it's a doozy. Bad news, I've only written a bit on the last chapter. I'm trying to hurry it up but my stupid History teacher had to go and give us bloody homework over the summer…but I'll complain elsewhere…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything not previously owned by me.

Note: Robin's dream in the beginning is just something I randomly made up on the way to get Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was a little tired and possibly delusional. And the information about his past has been taken from the movie 'Batman: Forever' which I saw not long before I wrote that…so that might explain some of the ramblings.

O…k. On with the story.

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What is to Come

Chapter Nine: Pulse

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Robin had watched Karigan leave and soon followed suit; intent on getting back to sleep as soon as possible. When he reached his room, Robin changed into grey flannel pajama pants and fell into his bed, falling asleep instantaneously.

He was having that dream again; the one where her saw his parent's death, and the one he hadn't had in years. He was back in the circus tent, standing in the ring below, watching his mother and father fall to their deaths. Only this time they were different. Their eyes were empty sockets, emotionless pits in their once familiar faces. As his family fell closer and closer still they changed into grisly beasts, the skin rotting off their bones. Robin screamed, but nothing came out, and ducked, and when he dared to look back up the scenery had changed. He was standing in the Gotham City cemetery, right in front of his parents' gravestones. Then time sped up, the sun set, and darkness reigned. The cemetery fell quickly into disrepair, soon turning into a jungle, and then being engulfed by horrendous black flames. Robin heard a crack, looked up, and glimpsed a burning limb falling towards him before everything went black. Darkness surrounded him, engulfing his being and dousing his senses. But then he heard a voice, only a whisper at first, and it quickly grew stronger. 'Goodbye…' he heard, and instantly recognized it.

Robin let out a small yell and sat up quickly, his breathing ragged. He jumped from his bed and hastily pulled on a shirt.

"Karigan, what are you doing…" he muttered, his brow creased in worry. Robin quickly exited his room and sprinted down the hall to Karigan's. When he knocked on the door, no sleepy Karigan came to open it, and he quickly realized that she was not in there. Robin pushed the button on the wall and the door slid open with a soft whoosh. But what worried him the most wasn't what was absent from the room, but what was present, and laying on Karigan's bed. Robin stepped forward and picked up one of the dusty volumes and turned it about in his hands. 'Dimension Traveling' was the simple title, and the page that it had been open to told how to journey to the other dimensions. Realization dawned and his heart fell to his toes.

"Oh god no…" he whispered hoarsely, his rapidly beating heart the only thing he could hear. Dropping the book he sprinted to Raven's room and pounded loudly on the door. He got no response to the first group of knocks, and was about ready to kick the door when Raven opened it, glowering at him.

"What?" she demanded. Robin frowned; like she didn't know what he was there for.

"What is Karigan planning? Where is she?" he asked hastily, trying to see into her room over her shoulder.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She responded, trying to feign innocence.

"Like hell you don't." he snarled, pushing open her door with a grunt. Raven tried to stop him, but she knew he had already glimpsed Karigan. She was deathly pale, almost ghost-like, with her black hair billowing about her head like a dark crown. Robin walked over to her and grasped her limp hand tightly, incredibly surprised to find it fairly warm.

"I saw the books in her room." He said quietly, staring at Karigan's floating body. "What is she doing?" he asked, not looking at Raven.

"She went to the Underworld to stop her father."

Robin smirked to himself. 'Stop her father' indeed. Euphemisms never suited Robin that much; he had no need for them, just like there was no need for them now, so in his mind, it was 'kill her father'. Signing, Robin released Karigan's hand and stood up.

"How long has she been gone?" he asked, turning around and facing Raven.

"About two hours." She answered, the lack of sleep evident on her face. "But time passes differently there. Two hours here could be twenty minutes there."

Robin shook his head. "Why didn't she tell me what she was going to do?" Raven bit back her acidic retort and instead threw him a look that screamed 'why do you think?'

"She knew you would try to stop her." She said evenly.

"Well yeah I would've tried to stop her!" Robin blew up, throwing his hands in the air. "And I'm damn-well surprised you didn't."

Raven shook her head slowly. "She would've gone regardless of anything I or you said. But she knew you would have gone to greater lengths to stop her. And I thought the least I could do was get her there safely."

Robin, of course, knew or had figured this already; considering Karigan's stubbornness and independence was extremely profound.

"But she could get killed, Raven." He said quietly, staring at her. Raven tore away from his gaze and looked at Karigan.

"I know," she whispered, "And Karigan knows it too. It was a chance she was willing to take."

A solemn silence fell between them and Robin drug the chair from Raven's desk and sat next to the bed. Sighing quietly, Robin put his chin in his hand and stared forlornly at Karigan.

"Did only her mind go or what?" he asked, peering at Raven out of the corner of his eye. She nodded slowly and sat in her meditation stance with her eyes closed.

"How is she going to get back?" Raven opened her eyes and stared at Robin, whose focus was back on Karigan.

"My mind is linked to hers; when she tells me she is ready to come back, I'll tell her the incantation to bring her back."

"What if she doesn't come back?" Robin asked quietly, not looking at her. Raven said nothing, not wanting to think about hat possibility.

X

With a grunt, Karigan collided with the hard rock behind her. She and her father had gotten off to a good start; each being able to parry the others attacks without much effort. Then things started to go downhill for Karigan; she seemed to grow weaker with each passing attack. But the worst part was was that Xaphtious could tell her energy was diminishing, and yet he never made his attacks more powerful. He was toying with her, and it was making Karigan positively livid. So far, her theory on her powers was partially correct, but she had yet to fully prove it.

Groaning quietly, Karigan stood up and glared daggers at her father. Xaphtious merely gave her his infuriating smirk and a large ominous fireball formed in his hand. Karigan stood to her full height of 5'3 and rubbed her shoulder, ignoring the throbbing pain in it. Her suffering was his enjoyment no more; it was time this ended and it was time she unleashed her full anger. Karigan's eye changed from navy to red and a fireball erupted in her hand. Stepping away from the wall quickly, she fired her missiles and launched a few chunks of rock at Xaphtious. He blocked the flame but the basketball-sized rock hit him hard in the stomach, sending him flying into the stone wall behind him. This gave Karigan the perfect window of opportunity. Exhaling slowly, she shook her hands and cleared her mind. Ok, focus, she thought, holding her hands a little ways apart with her palms facing in. Karigan concentrated with all her might on every time she had wished for her dad to come home, but he didn't. All the moments of disappointment and sadness she had to endure because her father never bothered to get to know his daughter. Karigan could feel the power growing inside her and forming a strong fireball in between her hands.

She reveled in this feeling; this over whelming strength that she had only felt at the most intense of times. But while her attention was drawn elsewhere and away from her father, Xaphtious had risen and took his own chance. Karigan realized her fault too late; a ball of evil black fire was rocketing towards her, but much to Karigan's surprise, it collided with the ground, sending torrents of dust and shards of rock into the air. Her deep concentration broke as the impact blasted her off her feet and into the jagged wall behind her. A sharp jutting point on the wall drove into her back with a biting pain and Karigan cried out. She sat hunched and doubled over, biting her lip until the metallic taste of blood reached her tongue. Breathing hard, she reached out with her right arm and tried to stand, but a searing white-hot pain shot up and down it, making her cry-out again and halt the movement. Karigan turned her head; protruding from her shoulder was a thin, but very sharp piece of rock that had been blasted out of the ground.

Restraining the urge to scream again, Karigan grasped the shard firmly and pulled. Warm blood trickled between her fingers and dripped onto the ground, staining it a deep vermillion. Karigan threw the stone to the side and wiped her bloody hands on her jeans. She couldn't heal the wound, it would take too much energy; energy that she would need.

By this time, all of the dust and rock particles had settled and Xaphtious stood a few feet away, scowling down at his daughter.

"You're weak," he spat venomously, "Pathetic. I'm ashamed to call you my daughter." Karigan slowly lifted her head, her eyes blazing such a deep blue they were almost black.

"I am not your daughter. I'm your downfall." She snarled, rising slowly.

This time, she focused harder and faster with all her might; the memories of the strongest time each of her emotions had encountered flashing through her head. Her mother's death, becoming a Titan, first learning about what was to come, Jake and her father coming back into her life, growing to love her friends as her only family and the brutal anger that someone else was trying to take that family away. In this whirlwind of emotions Karigan stood, concentrating with all her mind's power on one last fireball. Each of her emotions drained from her soul, pouring their essence into this ball of flame until there was nothing left. Karigan looked down at the flame in her hands; it pulsed with its own life, an almost never-ending source of power feeding its being. But she noticed something different about this solitary fireball; though all of it may have pulsed as one; the deep maroon center possessed a beat of its own. It was Karigan's beat, her pulse; this missile was connected to her heart and soul just like her emotions had been.

Karigan raised her hands to throw the fireball and Xaphtious did the same. Her empty blue eyes stared at him, and their eyes connected once before each fired their projectile. As Karigan's left her hand, and the connected dissipated, she felt strangely empty inside.

"Goodbye…" she whispered, knowing Raven was connected to her mind.

As the powers collided, a blinding white light spread throughout the room at an alarming speed; but just as soon as everything erupted in light, everything went black.

X

In the Circle of stone pillars, where Trigon the Terrible sat upon his obsidian throne, things were not going well. Trigon was aware that his puppet Xaphtious had gone to meet his wretched daughter without his consultation. He seemed to believe that he could free the girl's demonic side with little trouble. But he had been wrong. The blast from the two powers' confrontation was felt throughout the Underworld, and Trigon didn't doubt that denizens of other dimensions felt the power surge also.

Trigon slammed his fist down on the arm rest of his chair, breaking off a small portion.

"This changes everything." He snarled, the anger in his voice threatening to cut loose. Indeed, this recent turn of events did change everything, and for the better or worse, the demon could not know. But change was something Trigon did not like unless it was brought about by himself, and only in the form of destruction and terror. He stood up, his anger taking full control and seeking a way out.

"Fool!" he roared, red lasers shooting from his eyes and completely destroying everything in their path. But no matter what Trigon did, said or destroyed could have changed or stopped what had just occurred.

X

Raven's eyes shot open as cold, harsh fear seized her heart. She frantically searched her mind for the connection to Karigan's, but it was as she dreaded; there was no connection to be found. Robin had been staring at her, his fear growing at each of her actions.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he demanded, his brow etched with worry. Raven's gaze fell on Robin, her indigo eyes plagued by fear and sorrow.

"I-I can't find a connection to her mind." She croaked, cringing when one of her vases blew up. Raven slowly floated to the floor and collapsed on her bed. Robin knew what that meant, but wanted to believe there was a possibility that is wasn't true. He stared back at Karigan's limp body, and for the first time in a long time, he felt helpless. Karigan was in a world where he couldn't help her, where he couldn't follow. Robin slowly grasped her hand again and was startled to find that it lacked its previous warmth. Biting his lip unconsciously, Robin removed his glove and held her hand again; it was stone cold. He looked over at Raven who touched Karigan's other hand and pulled back sharply, her heart beating fast. Their eyes connected again and moved back to Karigan. No sooner had they done that, her body ceased glowing and slowly began descending back onto the bed. Now the truth was undeniable.

"She's gone?" Robin whispered hoarsely, afraid of those simple words. Raven walked over to her window and pressed her forehead against the cool glass. She didn't look at him, for fear her emotions would stray from her control.

"She's gone."

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Well now, it is time for you to jump to conclusions. I could have really killed Karigan off this time, or Raven just thinks she's dead and Karigan will come back. You might be surprised by what happens next. And I might be lying. You never know. So there you go.

The last chapter might be awhile, and only because I'm lazy and my muse Agatha demands to be paid for her services. Pfft. As if. But this chapter was longer than I thought it would be…so maybe the next one will be shorter than I thought…you never know…

Oo, more good news and bad news. I came up with a new story that is Raven/Robin pairing and I made it up at 1 in the morning. Doesn't it just sound peachy? Hah, you'll have to wait some time before I actually put it up. And I just finished the first chapter yesterday…

Bad news time: It's going to distract me from my other stories. Gr. Stupid mind…Sorry for rambling on and on…you can review now