Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Coyote – Chapter 15
Cyborg stared into the kitchen. The empty space left by the mangled table glared back at him from the darkened room.
Ghosts sat in that kitchen, ghosts of the three amigos, sitting around a collection of breakfast dishes. Nothing special, really, just three towermates trying to start their day. Together.
She'd hand us some blueberry muffins, he thought. The only thing she can really make, and that's from a mix, bless her little witchy heart. I'd make fun of her herbal tea. Gar would be ribbing her about her rabbit food. Trying to get her to smile. She'd do her best to just look dignified. I'd call him pea-soup-for-brains, and he'd call me 10W-40-head, and we'd laugh. I swear, sometimes she'd smile at that, just a little bit. That's us. A little family inside a larger one.
And I've tried to break it up.
Her quiet presence was so reassuring to him. Somehow, if someone in her shoes could be content, then maybe life in his own metallic boots wasn't so horrible after all. And Salad-head was there to keep him sane. Keep him laughing. Keep him from being a dead-serious leader all the time. Keep him human.
Maybe she really was smiling at him. Maybe he really did care about making her smile, more than I thought he did.
And now they both were gone. The weekday tower was too quiet; its daily tempo was broken. Raven rarely made any actual noise, but there was always a background hum when she was there. A soft, warm, hum when things were going well. A sadder, cooler one when they weren't. But even that sad hum was silent now. Even more silent without Gar's incessant corny jokes.
I just wanted to take care of you, Raven. That's all. Keep you from getting hurt again. I remember what that Forrester creep did to you. And I remember what Terra did to him, too.
He examined the crumpled letter that she had managed to sneak past her guardian once more. The words engraved themselves into his heart: I do not want to be away from you. I miss you terribly. I want to reach out to you...
He shook his head at the empty room. It never occurred to me that it might be real.
Sister, I'm sorry.