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( ) author's notes

- dreamscape

'' - telepathy

- mindscape

The Titan

Chapter 8

Written by Nate Sindel

"What you have done is unforgivable," he raised his hand to the man's face, palm up, fingers extended.

"And what will you do about it?" Slade asked as a small trickle of blood escaped from under his mask, he was asking for death.

"I will give you, your life," he dropped the unmoving villain to the ground, who began to writhe on the floor, clutching at his mask, and howling in pain.

Sunfire began to walk away, as the Titans - and former HIVE members - arrived. Raven was the first to speak.

"What did you do?"

"I have kept my promise not to kill him, but from now on his body will feel as if consumed by fire, the pain a constant reminder of those he has hurt," he turned away from them and began walking again; Jinx and Mammoth said their good byes to the Titans and went after him.

Raven looked about to say something else, but held back at the cold feeling she got from him. Slade's little scheme had affected him more than any of them; Terra was his student, possibly the closest thing he had to a little sister, or, possibly, a daughter. But one thing was for sure, Beast Boy wasn't going to be much happier when he was released from his stasis chamber.

Days had passed since that fateful day, the day when Terra sacrificed herself for the city, the day that Jinx and Mammoth were freed from Brother Blood for good, the day that Slade was brought to justice. Now Sunfire and the two former HIVE students had disappeared, and no trace of them had been found. Even Raven, reaching out to the fullest extent of her mind, couldn't find them. It had occurred to her that he was completely invisible to her senses - unless he decided otherwise - but that didn't stop her from trying.

"Where are you?" she sighed, looking out across the city from her position atop Titans' Tower. "Why did you leave?"

"He left because of what he did."

Raven turned slowly, seeing Robin coming through the door, and closing it behind him. At this moment in time all she wanted was to be alone, but it wasn't really like Robin to comply if there was something on his mind, and there was plenty on his mind right now.

"He brought Slade to justice," she turned back around, away from her leader. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Not like that," he said, stepping up next to her. "Nothing gave him the right to do that...even if Slade did deserve it."

"Robin, there are some things in this world that are beyond your control," she turned to head for the door, "and he's one of them. No one on this planet, or any other planet for that matter, has the authority, or the power to back it up, to tell him what to do and what not to do."

"He said..."

"He told Starfire he would not kill Slade, that left a very large margin for what he could have done. Besides, you would have done the same in his position," she had stopped walking now, and stood halfway between him and the door. "Slade forced Terra's powers beyond the breaking point in an attempt to destroy us and the city; he got exactly what he deserved."

Robin mulled that over in his head for a few seconds before turning, ready to counter Raven's statement, but she was gone. He moved to the edge of the tower, looking out at the peaceful city, it was going to be a quiet night. Maybe he was letting some sense of honor keep him from being the best he could be, maybe it was that honor that was holding him back. But, if it weren't for that honor, if he did just take the life of every wrongdoer he came across, he would be no better than the people that had killed his parents.

"If it hadn't been for Starfire, then who knows what Sunfire could have, would have done to Slade," he thought aloud, "I guess I should thank her."

The next was peaceful, so peaceful that Cyborg suggested they all go for a ride in his new and improved T-car, test out the brand new stereo system and the 10,000 disc CD changer. All were eager, except Raven, who was somewhat reluctant, that was before Cyborg agreed to play some of her meditation music.

They drove through the streets, people waving at their heroes taking time out to be normal teens, at least for a little while. Cyborg drove, naturally, while Robin sat in the front passenger seat, Raven behind him, Starfire in the middle, and Beast Boy, in the form of a dog with his head out the window, was behind Cyborg.

The drive was going fine, they had played through a few of Raven's CDs, which Cyborg had to admit made for a very smooth ride. The goth girl in question was looking out the window with a soft smile on her lips, listening to one of her favorite CDs. Her eyes snapped wide open as she saw a familiar head of spiky golden hair.

"STOP THE CAR!" she screamed, and Cyborg slammed on the breaks.

Before questions could be asked, she was out of the car, and running down the street, weaving between people, trying to find him. Floating slightly, she saw her target turn a corner, moving quite swiftly for someone going against the current of people. Getting up above the crowd, she flew after him, going around the same corner to find no sign of him, but before her was the Jump City Park.

Landing at the entrance of the park, she entered, walking along the concrete path; past people playing games, or practicing tai chi, or having picnics. She stopped abruptly, allowing a group of children playing tag to run by. Once they were gone, she continued forward, looking left and right for any sign of him, but there was none.

As she made her way over a hill, she started to see it, that golden aura, still as bright and comforting as ever. Hurrying, she got to the top and saw him, crouched down, his hands cupped in front of him, and a line of children roughly twenty feet away. About fifty feet behind him was Mammoth, and Jinx was sitting on a bench off to the side. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on here, but she did need to see it to believe it.

"Ready?" he questioned the first child, who nodded. "GO!"

The boy ran forward, placed his foot in the hands set before him, and then Sunfire heaved, launching the boy into the air. Higher and higher he went, laughing all the way, then came the descent, right into Mammoth's waiting hands. He was still laughing as the behemoth of a teen set him down. The Tamaranean stood up and looked over as the boy ran up to him.

"Fun, eh?"

"Yeah, that was great!" the kid whooped.

"Told you," Sunfire laughed a little as he lightly moved the boy to the side. "Next!"

After assuming the position, the next child, a little blonde girl, ran up and was launched in much the same fashion. She let out a shriek of terror as the descent began, and a sudden silence as Mammoth caught her, and set her down; she wasn't moving. Sunfire walked over, after making sure none of the other children moved from their places in line.

"Wanna go sit down?" he asked her quietly.

The girl said nothing, just nodded, and, smiling, Sunfire lifted her and brought her over to where the first boy was sitting. It continued for the next few minutes, as there were about twenty kids left. He crouched, they ran, he launched, and Mammoth caught; they all seemed to be having a grand ol' time doing it too. After the last child was thrown, Sunfire stood up, and told them all to come back after lunch. Turning, he finally seemed to notice that Raven was watching from the distance.

"And how about you, young miss, care to have a go?" he shouted over to her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he got there first. "Of course not, you didn't come here for fun."

"Hey, Sun, I'd like to try," Jinx said as she ran over to where the children were lined up before.

Raven cast a questioning glance at him, to which he shrugged and crouched down, cupped his hands, and got ready. They went through the same routine, only Jinx performed a few mid-air acrobatics while up there. She came rocketing down towards Mammoth, as she did so she held her palms flat, bathing them in a purple/pink aura, and she began to slow down, landing gracefully on the grass in front of the gargantuan teen.

'What was that?' Raven thought as she observed Jinx's new ability.

'/Her powers can do more than destroy/' Sunfire's message broke though the silence of her mind.

"That was fun," Jinx giggled, running over to him, followed slowly by Mammoth. "Can I go again?"

Sunfire turned to her, a pleasant smile on his face, but the twinkle was gone from his eyes. Instantly the hexmistress slowed her run to a walk, and then stopped, waiting for his reply. She knew it wasn't going to be the answer that she wanted to hear, nor was Raven being here helping her train of thought.

"Maybe later, you can be first in line," his voice was soft, melodic almost as he smiled a little wider. "But, right now, I think Raven wants to talk...alone, please."

Now that was going too far, Jinx may not have had anything against Raven anymore, but there was no way she was leaving her Sunfire alone with the magus. And she was about to voice this opinion when the two of them just up and vanished, nothing left but the grass and wind. Opening her mouth, she was about to ask the rhetorical, 'what happened?', but refrained from doing so.

"Don't worry about it," Mammoth said, placing his hand on her tiny shoulder.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" she huffed.

Sunfire and Raven appeared in another part of the large park, in the shadow of a large tree, not two feet apart from each other. The Tamaranean slowly reached up and touched her cheek, stroking his thumb just beneath her eye, wiping away the tears he knew she was desperate to shed. The warm smile returned to his face as he lowered his lips to hers, gently kissing her, to which she returned it. Releasing her, he sat down on the ground, his back resting against the tree, and patted the ground next to him. After a moment's hesitation she took his offer and sat next to him, leaning herself against him.

"I missed you," she said simply, though her thoughts told him she would just love shed tears of joy at finding him.

"I know," he sighed, longing to have been with her these past few days, but there was no way he would return to that tower, not unless he absolutely had to. "How have the others been."

"Well...Beast Boy is depressed, and a little mad at you, I'd stay out of his way if I were you," she sighed at the changeling's ranting the other day, after hearing about Terra. "Cyborg and Starfire are the same, pretty much, though Starfire does seem a little weary about you being out on your own."

"Understandable, and the fearless leader?"

"Robin, he's been snapping at everyone, probably wants to lecture you," she laughed lightly, not at Robin's action, but the thought of him trying to get Sunfire to listen. "Don't misunderstand his actions, he is relieved that Slade is in prison, but he won't accept that what you did was justified."

"Revenge can never justify anything, Raven," he looked away a little, at a group playing frisbee. "What I did was not for him, or for the people of the city, I did what I did solely for myself. Slade stole someone very important to me, and I was going to make him pay, not with death, but with a life of unending torment."

Raven was silent for the next few moments, she understood his actions, she herself would have done the same thing. Honestly, she could not think of a single person who wouldn't, even Starfire, the purest person she knew. To be in his position, with all his abilities, and being unable to save the person who mattered most to her, the Tamaranean princess would most likely have taken her own life afterwards, as retribution for what she had done. There's was no other way it could have gone, the only person who could have changed it was Sunfire, and he was very certain about what he had done.

"Well, someone's certainly thinking hard," he chuckled as she glared at him, but not the glare she used on others, this was a playful one. "Don't concentrate on something in the past Raven, there's no way to change it."

She could have pressed the matter, but she let it slide, just as she slid her body further against him. His arm was around her now, the forearm guard was a slight eyesore, but she could live with it, having not seen what was beneath it. Letting out a very content sigh, she practically fell onto him, her body dozing off into a pleasant sleep. Sunfire, even before this, could tell she hadn't slept much, always worrying about him, even though there was no point. Lightly his hand stroked her hair, smiling at her serene expression.

'Such a beautiful girl,' he mused to himself, 'someone like her should never have to suffer, but, alas, it is inevitable.'

They remained like this for quite some time, as Raven had actually not slept since he left, and was in dire need of a nap. Sunfire didn't mind, so long as she was safe, and in his arms, he was completely at peace. The urge to enter her dreams and speak with her there had crossed his mind, but he decided to let her rest and have her own dreams.

"Sweet dreams, little Raven," he spoke while brushing a lock of hair away from her face.

When Raven awoke, the sun was already setting, and Sunfire had apparently dozed off as well, though his sleep was much lighter, and he woke when she stirred. He nodded in the direction of the setting sun, and raven looked, a smile starting to tug at the corners of her lips. Together they watched the sun set over the tops of the buildings, which blocked their view of Titans' Tower, and the ocean beyond it.

"You should be getting back soon."

"I'm not going back without you," Raven retorted, her slim hand grabbing hold of his forearm.

"Don't worry, I'll come back," he chuckled a little at her attempts to hold him. "I promise."

Raven was inclined to agree, since he hadn't broken a promise yet, to her at least. It was at this time she wondered what he had been doing all this time, had he been here the whole time, or had he, Jinx, and Mammoth been wandering the city? The latter did sound a bit more plausible, since it was hard for her to imagine him being here, and not being in the paper.

"Sunfire...?"

"Raven, does it really matter that much to you, to know where I've been?"

"No, not really, I'm just happy you're here now," she leaned up and kissed him softly. "How long until you return?"

"When I can convince Jinx and Mammoth to come with me to Titans' Tower," he looked down, away from her face. "They've changed, Raven, and I am going to make sure they are never used as they were before."

"Was it your doing that made them like this?"

"I merely freed them from Brother Blood's mind control, they're actually very kind," he said, then snickered a little. "Though I think that Jinx is a little jealous of you."

Raven arrived back at the tower, and, after going inside, slumped into one of the chairs in the entrance hall. Even with all the sleep she had gotten in the park, she was still tired, and soon she had allowed her eyelids to close, and sleep overtook her. It was a light sleep, since she had only meant to rest her eyes before going up. But, before her first dream could start, the alarm went off, yanking her to the waking world. Lifting off from the floor, she went up through the ceiling, emerging in the common room. The others were already there, and on the screen was video footage of Dr. Light, robbing a bank vault.

"Good of you to join us, Raven," Robin snapped at her sharply, then yelled, "Titans, move out!"

The dark magus was about to say something, but decided against it, feeling just too tired to argue. So she followed them out the door, ready to do her job.

"So, how long are we going to be here?" Blackfire asked, impatiently tapping her foot.

"For as long as it takes," Moonfire retorted, then went back to his task at hand, probing Sunfire's mind.

They had arrived on Pluto earlier that day, after days of flying through empty space. Blackfire stood about twenty feet from where her companion was sitting, rooting through his brother's memories. He could do this, and only this, inside Sunfire's mind, otherwise his brother's mental defenses would retaliate against the intruder. Many things had gone on on Earth since he last checked in, one of which was that the girl he planned to rip from his brother was gone; she gave her own life to save them all. He spat at the memories, heroics had always made him nauseous.

"That leaves two others, but which one would be best to grab, his memories of them are hard to see," he mumbled to himself, trying to tear down the wall between him and those memories, but it was no use. "I guess I'll just have to take a guess at right one."

"What are you mumbling about?"

"There's been a change in plans, I just need to work it into scheme of things," he stated calmly, causing Blackfire to take a step back, when he spoke like that, she knew not to push the issue.

She didn't even know why she was here, just that there was this voice in the back of her mind telling her to go along. So here she was, on a planet on the edge of a solar system in the boondocks of the galaxy, waiting for Moonfire to get his act together. Soon they would be heading off for Earth, a miserable little mudball with people so ignorant they still didn't believe that aliens existed.

The alien princess was getting tired of waiting, this person was spending far too much time planning. She couldn't deal with it, since she ad always been more inclined to the "snatch and grab" route, rather than make complicated plans. It was almost enough to drive her insane, almost, but not quite. Here they were, less than a light-year from their goal, and he has to change the plan.

"Why don't you go blow up some rocks, or something, this might take some time," Moonfire said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Fine," she huffed and walked away.

Jinx and Mammoth watched Sunfire as he sat outside of a cave, wondering exactly what he was here for. He had been there for quite a while now, since it was far past midnight. They just stayed where they were, watching him, while trying to fend off sleep.

"He looks lost in thought," Mammoth said.

"Think it's about Terra?" his pink-haired companion suggested.

"Maybe."

Sunfire could hear what they were saying, and was mildly surprised they picked up on it so quickly. He had come here to think, and reminisce with himself about Terra. She had been almost his entire life, a lump of unshapen clay for him to mold, make into a good person. But it had ended so abruptly, and he couldn't have done anything about it. What made things worse was that he could have done something, he could have gone for her instead of Blood, chosen to rescue her instead of leaving it to Robin.

Looking down, he saw the remains of the combustion fern he had planted for her. Now it just reminded him of her death, her body trapped in stone, he essence returned to the earth. Reaching out, he placed his hand on the plant, feeling the ecomancing power flow from his fingertips into the plant. The fern began to come back to life, the leaves turning green, the stem becoming it's usual black color. Then it began to regress, getting smaller, younger, until there was nothing left but a seed, which he then pocketed.

"I will find a way to bring you back Terra," he stood up and looked down into the cave. "If not with my powers, then with someone else's."

Turning away from the cave, he proceeded up the hill behind it, until he was at the top, looking at Titans' Tower in the distance. He sighed, knowing he would have to go back there one day, he had a promise to keep after all. Jinx and Mammoth stepped up beside him, both of them looking at the tower as well. They were all for going, but Jinx could tell that there was something keeping Sunfire from going back. It was something completely foreign and unknown to hexmistress, it was similar to disappointment, but not quite it.

"Ready to go?" he asked them.

"We might as well," Jinx said, "but let's take our time."

It was about dawn when they arrived at Titans' Tower, early enough that it was likely none of them would be awake. So, upon entering, Sunfire had been expecting the entrance hall to be empty, but it wasn't, Raven was there. She may have been asleep in the same chair as earlier that night, but she was still there. Sunfire lifted her gently, so as not to wake her, and carried her towards the elevator. Jinx made a slight face at this, but kept it to herself.

"I'm sure you both know your way around here already, so come on," he jerked his head for them to follow.

The elevator ride was swift, while being slightly cramped with Mammoth's bulk squeezed in. As the doors hissed open into the common room, Sunfire was surprised to find it empty; he had been expecting at least Robin to be there waiting. After telling Jinx and Mammoth to wait there, he proceeded in putting Raven to bed.

Upon entering her room, he realized it was the first time he had been in here. Shrugging it off, he held her in one arm and removed her cloak with the other, draping it over a chair off to the side. With that off her pulled the covers on her bed back and laid her down, pulling the covers back up. Feeling and urge to do something more, he lightly kissed her cheek, then left.

The door slid shut, and he breathed a sigh of relief; despite everything, it did feel somewhat good to be back. As he walked the halls back to the main room, he could feel the tower beginning to awaken; doors were beginning to open, and footsteps could be heard in the halls. When he entered the common room, he saw Jinx and Mammoth sitting on the couch, waiting.

Just as he made it to the bottom step, the door behind him opened, and there stood Beast Boy. The sleep was quite evident on the green boy's face, but that quickly cleared up when he saw who was there. Sunfire turned to look at him, the look of contempt on the teenager's face, the thoughts of what he would like to do to the alien, and the utter realization of his complete inability to do so, instead of saying anything, Beast Boy just turned and headed for the kitchen.

"That went well," Sunfire mumbled to himself.

The doors wooshed open again and Starfire floated in, sighted Sunfire, and let out a squeal.

"You have returned!" she cried out with...glee?

Instantly her arms were around his neck, hugging him with all the strength she could muster. He even felt himself begin to rise off the floor, it was slight, but it was still there. Upon letting go, she looked behin him, and finally spotted the two former HIVE students.

"Um...hi?" Jinx said shyly, Mammoth just nodded.

The alien princess cast a glance at Sunfire, questioning him silently why they were here.

"It's okay, they're free of Blood's control, for good," he smiled down at her, and turned back to the door, waiting for the next person to come through.

It turned out to be Robin, possibly the last person Sunfire wanted to see. Robin looked about to just let it all out, give the alien a piece of his mind, yell until he was hoarse, but Raven's words the other night came back to him. Sunfire looked ready and willing to take whatever the teen was going to throw at him, but Robin surprised him by doing exactly what Beast Boy did, and walked away.

'I'll get to him after breakfast,' he thought while walking for the kitchen, then he stopped, finally noticing that Jinx and Mammoth were sitting there, looking at him expectantly. "I didn't know you were brining company."

Sunfire smirked, having gotten Robin to acknowledge his existence.

TBC

I had to end this chapter, it's taking too long, even if it did just take me a few days to write, I've been keeping all of you waiting for months. Why? Because it takes me months to plan the next chapter, and, instead of writing on the fly, I use what ideas I've come with in the chapter. So, if you want the chapters up faster, then take some of the load off of me, and send me your ideas. Who knows, I might even use some of them. While the end result of the story will be the same, I'll still need to figure out what to do between now and then.