Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans…

A/N: Haha, I think the hardest part in writing this is trying to find the fine line of rushing the story to drawing it out to far…the last chapter was a bit slower, buut this one might be a little too fast…the plot must go on though :)

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Forever was a long time. If she didn't age…if she didn't need to eat or sleep…would she always be like this? Would she see her friends grow up and die? Would she see Beast Boy…

These thoughts haunted her. Her friends were in another world now…and she was loosing hope. Time would continue to go by, but she would not. The knowledge made her sick.

Rising off the floor, her head throbbing from all the tears she had spilt, she tried to shake off the thought. She was stronger then this…she could manage. She had to manage, whether she wanted to or not.

Each day…it was getting harder for her to not break down…to resist the urge to cry…to scream…to do all the things she knew were meaningless…Knowing nothing she did had any affect…no matter how hard she tried…

Her emotions were struggling to overwhelm her and it took everything she had to beat them down.

She had to try to continue living life as she had been doing for that first long year. But…she was giving up…The only thing that kept her going was seeing her friends faces. Seeing his face. Her mind was reaching its breaking point…she was becoming obsessive in her isolation. But she had to hold on to anything…anything at all.

Raven watched him, her dark eyes following his every move. Her heart leapt at his smiles, fell when he was feeling down. It wasn't that her attitude itself had changed…if he did something stupid, she still commented on it, even though he couldn't hear her. But…her feelings for him were growing. And selfishly…she was glad he wasn't over her. So long as he still cared for her…she felt that there was still a chance something could be done.

Her mind would wander into all the stories she had read, from the countless tales of bitter romances. She was never caught up in their romantic notions before, always more intrigued by their thought process and logic then the actual plot…but now she kept replaying the happy endings in her mind…hoping it would happen to her.

Was she loosing her sanity in forced isolation? Was her mind slipping? On some days…she was sure it was. Other days, she felt perfectly normal. Constantly being ignored…constantly wanting to reach out to touch someone...anyone…for someone to tell her they could see her, that they could hear her.

She didn't go out with the Titans anymore when the beeping sounded. It hurt too much watching them fight against enemies, knowing she couldn't do anything to help them. Instinctively she would try to protect her friends with her black shield…but the attacks went through them so easily, that it was more of an emotional drain then actual comfort.

It was like she was falling very slowly…knowing the ground was coming closer and closer…but hoping beyond hope that somehow she would be saved. And it was one day that she was at her lowest...that it happened.

All the Titans were gone, off to fight another diabolical being. She was pacing around in the living room, the empty walls mocking her existence. If they were gone, she felt lonely. If they were here, she felt lonely…but if they were here, at least she could listen to their voices…see them…talk to them...

It was the sound of Robin's motorcycle that threw her out of the thoughts. It was the sound of his motorcycle in the building that caused her forehead to crease in worry. She rushed towards the noise, hearing it stop and a door somewhere slam open. Pausing, she looked at the over turned bike. The infirmary.

She rushed inside, seeing Robin hovering around…Starfire. The girl was shaking in pain, and she was covered in…blood. The girl was set on the hard operating table...the same table she once laid…so long ago.

"Is she going to be alright?" Raven murmured out loud. The Robin was acting calmly enough…but the motorcycle, the twitching of his hands as he tried to fix the wounds…suggested otherwise.

"Ro—Robin?" Starfire reached out one hand towards him. Robin caught it, squeezing it gently.

"Shh…you're going to be fine." He said, but his voice was uneasy…like he wasn't sure. Starfire just smiled, before shutting her eyes in pain…

"Robin!" The door swung open, and in ran Cyborg and Beast Boy. "How is she?" Robin didn't say anything, working on trying to stop from bleeding. "Should we take her to a hospital?"

"She's a Tamaranian." Robin said softly. "We know more about her physical structure then they do." His words…so eerily quiet.

Cyborg joined in on the efforts…but Beast Boy stayed back, staring at the table, his face slowly twisting in terror.

Starfire began to shake, her limbs twitching uncontrollably. Her eyes flew open, but she wasn't staring at anybody in particular, her mouth forming a voiceless scream.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted, trying to hold the flaying girl down, before she hurt herself.

"Stay with us girl!" Cyborg cried. Beast Boy, still watching in horrible fascination, sunk down to the ground, his face in his hands.

"Raven…Don't die…Raven…" He started to murmur. Raven was terrified…Beast Boy was reliving her death…Starfire…could be dying…

She flew to the Tamarania. "Don't die." She told the girl, her voice hardly above a whisper. "They can't handle another lost…He can't handle someone else…" The girl suddenly became limp…her eyes looking blankly at the ceiling.

"NO!" Robin cried, gripping her hand. "Come back to us Star!"

"Don't die—they need you!" Raven's voice rose as well. Starfire…the girl was finally back to her happy self…she couldn't die...she couldn't. "Starfire!" As quickly as it happened…the girl began to breathe again.

Robin slumped to the floor, his head resting against the side of the table. "Thank you." He said forcibly. Cyborg took over taking care of her…Beast Boy still crouching on the floor, his eyes wide from whatever it was that he was seeing.

"Don't do this." Raven told him reaching out to have her hand pass into his head in a make shift pat. "She's alright." Her touch appeared to draw him out of whatever spell he was under…he shivered, his eyes closing, and when he opened them back up, they were no longer wrought with whatever it was he was seeing.

He stood shakily to his feet, his fears still having him uneasy, but seeing Starfire...in bad shape but no longer at death's door…seemed to help him.

Raven let out a huge sigh she had been holding. "Don't do that to me."

---

Beast Boy…seeing Starfire there…seeing her laying on that table, facing death itself…it snapped something in him. Suddenly, he was right back at that room, right back to seeing Raven laying so pale…motionless on the table…Her own eyes looking right through him in an unseeing gaze. "Raven…Don't die…Raven.." He found himself saying to the body, reliving the moment all over again.

Not again…

Not another death…

Raven shouldn't have died…and again…it was happening again. Please… Seeing her on the table…seeing her in the coffin…the dirt slowly covering the wooden surface…never to see her again.

Suddenly…he was out of it. Shivering, he looked up…relief washing over him as he saw Starfire laying there…she was breathing. She wasn't dying. She wasn't Raven.

---

Starfire, once out of danger and bandaged up, woke up soon after. She healed at a much faster rate then humans did, and the entire team was still there when she slowly opened her eyes. "I am not dead!" She announced, her words sounding weak, but joyful.

"Duude, don't do that to us again." Beast Boy cried, bounding to one of her sides. Robin stood on the other, smiling down at her.

"You gave us quite the scare." Cyborg chided.

"Quite doesn't do it justice." Raven muttered.

Starfire blushed, then her eyes grew distant. "I…I heard Raven." She looked down at her hands…Raven's own eyes widening with surprise and shock. The others had similar reactions.

"Are you sure? You may have been hallucinating." Robin said, taking her hand. She shook her head frantically.

"I was…what do you call it…heading towards the light?...And Raven told me not to die…that you needed me." Her eyes grew sad, but then she smiled. "Is it not possible she might be our winged protector?"

Raven blinked as Starfire stated the words she had told the girl earlier. She had heard her.

"Guardian Angel?" Cyborg said, his voice quiet. Beast Boy's eyes were wide as he stared at Starfire. Robin didn't look sure as to what to believe.

"Maybe…"

Starfire had heard Raven.

Beast Boy gripped Starfire's arm. "Did she say anything else?" The girl shook her head.

"That was all that I heard."

"Are you sure…" Robin started, his voice trailing off at the look Starfire gave him.

"I do not lie, Robin." She insisted. After that, everyone was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Slowly, Cyborg and Beast Boy trickled out of the room, Robin saying he'd watch over her in case she got worse during the night.

Raven's own thoughts were swirling about her mind. Starfire had heard her. After so long…after so much time…someone had heard her. If she had known…she could have yelled to look at the books in her room, or to study the bracelet on Beast Boy's wrist…a part of her was torn apart at the wasted chance…but a much greater part was filled with something she hadn't felt in a long time. She had been noticed. It wasn't everyday one of her teammates had a life threatening encounter…but…it gave her hope…the hope that she had been in search of. If…it happened again…she could be free.

It was twisted to hope for one of her friend to be put in danger, just so she could be saved…but…a part of her was selfishly wishing for it to happen. She was tired of just simply haunting the tower…she wanted to rejoin them…go back to them…and now…there was a way.

She had never been happier.

---

Robin sat by Starfire, his hand still clutching her own. "I'm sorry to have cause you worry…" Starfire squeezed his hand sadly. Her near death had scared him…but also made him realize how important she had become to him…how much he…

"I'm just glad you were alright…I didn't want...to lose you." A faint blush spread on his cheeks, something he tried to cover up. "I mean, the team needs you."

"Yes…" Both stared at one another, an awkward silence forming. Both seemed to have something they wanted to say, but neither wanted to be the first to say it.

"Star—" He began, the same instant she said "Robin—" They looked away from one another.

"What is it, Robin?" Starfire asked lightly.

"Well…we've known each other a long time." He started, but then stopped, unsure how to keep it going. He was the leader of the Titans, great at making tactical decisions, planning out how to defeat the bad guys…but when it came to stuff like this…he always faltered. "And we've shared many moments together." Starfire nodded, her face becoming brighter and brighter by these words.

"Yes?"

"Well…I think I'm…" He hesitated.

"Yes?" Starfire repeated, her sheets twisting in her frantic hands.

"I think I'm in love with you." He covered his ears as Starfire let out a delighted shriek and gave him a spine cracking hug. Which promptly turned into a yelp as she pulled at her not quite healed yet wound. "Be careful." He chided her.

"I love you too." She smiled widely at him. "I am most delighted."

He smiled, and bent down, kissing her gently on the lips. "Me too."

---

Time was flying now. Raven had a new hope, a new way to get out. When the beeping sounded, she followed them…in the twisted desire that she could whisper the words of her true existence to one of her team mates.

Even if she was lonely, she now had a chance of joining them all…of becoming part of the team…of being with Beast Boy.

She didn't realize how fast time was going by until after another year and a half had passed, marking almost three years since she had left the Titans. Her feelings...her hope…it had carried her through them so quickly.

Until she was reminded once again how time really was moving forward.

It started with the telephone call. Robin had answered it, his face turning serious at the news. "I see." He said after a moment. "Tell him…I'll think on it." And then he hung up. Raven watched as he chewed his lip in thought. Starfire, who was in the room, came up to him, gripping one hand in worry.

"Robin? What is the matter?"

He just looked her square in the eyes, then pulled out his communicator. "Everyone in the meeting hall."

Everyone gathered together, looking at the leader expectantly. Raven stood near him, wondering what could be going on as well.

"We don't get too many enemies here any more, do we?" He suddenly asked. Raven had noticed that as well. The alarm in the tower had been going off less and less…something she had been horribly aware of.

"We have done a good job in keeping the city protected." Starfire nodded in agreement.

"It's my incredible skills and good looks." Beast Boy agreed, earning an dubious laugh from Cyborg.

"They really don't need all of us anymore, do they?" He said, half to himself. Starfire's face twisted in worry.

"We mustn't split up!" She insisted. Robin sighed.

"Its not that easy…Gotham needs someone to protect it."

"Does it not have the winged night creature?"

"Batman—he's hurt." Robin said with a sigh. "Its not critical…but he needs me to look over the city for awhile." Raven felt herself grow cold. She should have realized this could happen. They were getting older…they could…

"But—" Star fire's eyes opened wide, her hands clasping together. "You already have a city to protect."

"A city that doesn't need all of us…" He paused. During this time, Beast Boy and Cyborg had been quiet, letting the two of them talk. Now, Cyborg intervened.

"Hey man, if you need to go, you should go." Starfire looked at him in shock. The changeling nodded as well.

"I mean, we don't want you to go or anything, but we so got it covered here."

The Tamaranian looked between the two of them, her temper rising. Cyborg waved one hand, trying to calm her down.

"And of course you'll be going with him."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked them seriously. Seeing the two nodded, he turned to face Starfire. "Would you…come with me?" She blinked.

"Of course!" She said, looking surprised that it wasn't assumed she would follow him. He nodded.

The Titans...were going to split up.

She didn't want them to split up…but they were moving on with their lives…and of course they couldn't all stay here forever…but if they left, then…

---

And so it happened. Beast Boy and Cyborg stayed at Jump City…and after a tearful goodbye from Starfire…She and Robin—now Nightwing after he decided to drop the name for one that didn't tell those of Gotham he use to be Batman's sidekick—left. Raven watched them say good bye…watched them fade in the distance. Even if she came back now...things would never be the same.

Was it worth trying to come back? They didn't need her anymore…they were all moving on…wouldn't she just throw them back into chaos? Or…

When they left, she did something unusual for her. Normally at night, she still went to her room. It was a natural thing to do. But…the feeling of them breaking apart…the feeling of her no longer being wanted…it made her suddenly want to cling to the one person that cared for her…at least when she was alive.

She went into Beast Boy's room.

He was already asleep, sprawled out on the top bunk of his bed. "I don't want to lose you to." She said simply, as though explaining what she was doing in here. Her heart pounded in her chest…she wished he could see her…that he could try to make her feel better with one of his lame jokes…

Floating horizontal next to him, she watched him breathe in and out, in slow, steady rhythm. Suddenly, he started to murmur something, and she leaned closer, trying to make out the words.

"Raven…" The ready blush formed on her cheeks as she backed away slightly. "…Tofu…" She sighed, shaking her head. Tofu would be his next thought. Still, she reached out, one of her hands going through his own.

"I'm still here."

---

Robin was busy doing something he'd never have the chance to do if Batman was actually there. He was busily hacking into his computer system. His old mentor was just as suspicious as he was towards other people, and didn't like to share his secrets. The boy wonder was mainly doing this to research some old cases, cross analyzing whatever he found with information he already had. However, one particular article caught his interest.

He read it carefully, studying to make sure he really was seeing what he saw. It was an old alchemist recipe….it was…quickly he contacted the Titan Tower.

"Hey, missing us already?" Cyborg grinned broadly over the connection. Robin simply shrugged that comment aside, his expression completely serious.

"Is Beast Boy there?"

"Nope."

"Good—I need to talk to you." Robin bit his lip. "I think…I think I found a way of waking up Terra."

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Alright—2 chapters out in one day…I think I deserve double reviews for that :)