A/N: Salut, mes amis! Chapter 8, can you believe it? (I still don't own Teen Titans though) There's only three reviews for this fic! PLEASE REVIEW------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It doesn't mean anything

Without You here with me

And I can try to justify

But I still need You here with me

-Plumb, "Here With Me"

Chapter 8

Speedy rubbed the large bump on his head with the hand that wasn't holding his side. The city dwellers in that passing mob were certainly not friendly. They probably lived in fear of strangers, but Speedy couldn't imagine why. He had heard the murmurs of the "Prophet" and the "Higher Powers", and came to the conclusion that he needed to seek out The Prophet.

The section of the city he was walking through was mostly deserted. Buildings on the edge of collapsing were scrunched together. This Jump City of the future was not a welcome knowledge for Speedy. There had to be a way to stop this from happening. Jump City, regardless of its constant mistaking him for Robin, was a special city for him and whoever these Higher Powers were had just trampled all over it.

A scuffling came from the alley he was approaching, and a flash of deep green raced in front of Speedy.

A girl was being chased by five shadowy figures...figures that looked suspiciously like Slade clones. Speedy took off at a run, any aches of his own forgotten. He raced after the odd group, cutting through a different alleyway, and quickly caught up to the girl.

"Get behind me," he said, pulling her arm. Speedy stopped and faced the robots, pulling out an arrow from his quiver. He strung it and waited, then with a twang let fly a fire arrow. With deadly speed it hit the first Sladebot, creating a small explosion.

As soon as he had let the last arrow go, Speedy notched another and let it go, taking out two more of the Sladebots with lightning. He turned to check on the mysterious girl behind him and found with surprise that she had taken out the other one and was finishing up the final bot. Speedy watched in amazement as the girl concentrated, and a dull glow emitted from the gold ring on her right hand. She held out her right arm, and the bot dissolved into oblivion right before their eyes.

With the enemy gone, Speedy took this chance to study the girl. She looked to be about his age, and about his height. Perhaps an inch shorter. Speedy prided himself on his height. Her eyes were a deep and genuine chocolate colored brown, innocent but with a touch of cunning. Soft brown hair, lightly kissed with red, flowed down past her broad shoulders, slightly wavy. Her dress was forest green with a gold cord low on the waist and the sleeves came halfway down her lower arm. She seemed willowy and graceful at first glance, and pretty as well, but this didn't stop Speedy from narrowing his eyes and pulling another arrow from his quiver.

"Who are you?" she asked in a naturally soft voice.

"Who are you?" Speedy countered.

"Depends on who it is asking the question," she replied with a small smile. Speedy gave a quick sigh, deciding it wasn't worth the effort, and dropped his bow and quiver at her feet.

"Look, I'm not from around here, I'm not an enemy, and I just want to know your name," he said through gritted teeth. Speedy did not do patient well.

The girl cocked her head, giving another half smile. "I know," she said. "Simply making sure." She stuck her hand out. "My name is Lora,"she said. "I thank you greatly." Speedy relaxed and shook it.

"Speedy," he answered.

"Well, Speedy, welcome to Jump City, about twenty years later than when you came from," she said.

"How do you know that?" She ignored his question and stooped to pick up his dropped quiver and bow. "And how did you get rid of that last Sladebot?"

"What do these do?" Lora asked, carefully removing one of Speedy's arrows. Speedy knew she was changing the subject, but he played along.

"They shoot stuff," he replied vaguely.

"Hm," she said, smiling. She noticed a button on the side of the arrow.

"I wouldn't touch-"

"Oh!" The now flaming arrow shot out of Lora's hand far into the distance, lost forever. It seemed that Lora was not quite as graceful as her original appearance implied, Speedy thought.

He sighed with annoyance. "Well, there it goes."

"You'll get it back tomorrow," she said quietly. "And I'm not normally that clumsy. Now come with me," she ordered gently, walking in the direction opposite the arrow.

"Where are we going?" Speedy asked. "And who says I should go with you?"

She paused and turned back at him, and Speedy caught a whiff of something flowery with the breeze. Lora shivered. "Have a bit of trust," she said. "Don't you want to see your friends?"

Speedy quirked an eyebrow and followed her, wanting to know where the fellow Titans were, and wanting to know more about Lora.

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Robin's head turned sharply when he heard a loud whistling noise. A fireball was coming down from the sky, and heading straight towards him.

"Everyone look out!" he yelled, and leapt deftly out of the way.

The fireball that was actually Speedy's arrow landed with a tiny explosion. Bumblebee stood up from her crouched position and walked over towards it's landing crater. She picked up the arrow and held it up for Cyborg and Sarasim to see. "This is definitely Speedy's," she exclaimed. Robin strode over and looked at the path of smoke the arrow had left in the sky.

"Then he's in the city," he said. "And he may have the others with him. Let's pick up the pace a bit," he demanded. Cyborg held out an arm.

"Robin, we're all exhausted," he replied, looking back at Bumblebee and Sarasim, his gaze lingering on the latter. "And you are too," he finally said. "Let's rest now, and we'll make better time in the morning. We got as close as we could, but its a long desert to cross in one night."

Robin gritted his teeth in anger and turned away from them. "Fine," he spat, "I'll take first watch."

Sarasim walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked. Robin just nodded and settled himself on a boulder.

Bumblebee shrugged. "He'll realize that he needed the sleep," she said. "Don't worry about it." Cyborg nodded in agreement, and the three of them got as comfortable as they could on the chilled ground.

She was out there somewhere, and what if she was all alone? Thoughts of Starfire plagued Robin. What if she was behind them, simply standing in the wild waiting? Robin recalled the time he had given her that piece of advice after she had been breifly lost at the supermarket. The feeling of worry he'd had then paled to what he was feeling right now.

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"Starfire, it's getting dark," said a pensive Beast Boy. "Do you want to land somewhere, like..." he trailed off. A yellow glow that he knew so very well was heading straight towards them. "Starfire, Star, it's Terra!" he exclaied, not even bothering to hide the relief and joy from his voice.

Starfire was busy scanning the ground in search of anything...in search of Robin. But when she looked up and saw Terra, she gave a squeal and pulled Beast Boy at high speed towards the flying boulder.

"Terra! Oh, friend, it is glorious to see a familiar face!" The princess landed with Beast Boy in tow and wrapped the gangly blond in a gigantic hug.

Terra chuckled with relief. "It's good to see you guys too..." she looked past Starfire and ran to Beast Boy. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," the changeling replied. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, and then he and Starfire proceeded to tell her all that had happened with them.

"So, this Prophet," Terra finally said. "Let's ask someone about her." She brought the boulder down inside the city and walked out of the alleyway into the first person she saw.

"Wait, Terra, the civilians are not friendly!" Starfire cried.

"Excuse me," Terra said to the old woman, ignoring Starfire's calls. "Who is the Prophet and where are we gonna find him...her..it?"

The woman froze, then pointed a gnarled finger at the young girl. "Girly," she said in a wavering and elderly voice," The Prophet is a witch! She could turn you into anything she wanted." She finished her tiny speech with a whispered hiss. "Do not search for the supernatural things, else you will be in a greater trouble than you could ever imagined." With that, the odd lady scurried away.

Terra turned to her companions and shrugged. "I guess the Prophet's a girl," she said.

"And from the look of the things, she does not want to be found," Starfire said. Beast Boy supressed a snort at her attempt, and earned himself a flirty glare from Terra. He straightened up and turned around to start another long trek, when the face of a young boy leering up at him with giant dark blue eyes appeared right behind him. Beast Boy let out a yelp and jumped back behind Terra.

"You're looking for the Prophet," the boy said plainly. Beast Boy, still freaked out by the close encounter, could only nod his head. The boy continued. "She's in the slums, over on the east side. Look for the house with a laurel above the doorway." With that, the boy faded into the night.

"A laurel?" Starfire question. "That is, how you would say, random. What exactly is a laurel?" Terra grinned and just motioned them to follow.

"I'll show you when we find it, Star," she said, then shivered. "Let's hurry." Then the three of them headed to the slums of the future Jump City.

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Speedy was jogging to keep up with Lora's fast pace. "Why are you going so fast?" he asked. His side was starting to burn and he stumbled.

"Because your friends gets closer to hypothermia every second we slow," she exclaimed with frustration. "It gets colder out here at night, and you have come in the dead of winter." Speedy was taken aback by her outburst, and he simply stared at her for a second before he collapsed on one knee, catching his breath. Lora's look of fierceness was replaced by a softer look. She knelt down and held his arm as he got up slowly. Speedy gave a quick mumble of thanks, but he was also embarassed to be so weak in front of her. He stood upright and they started running once more.

"How on earth do you know this? Are you with the Higher Power? What is the higher power exactly? Do you know the Prophet?" Speedy bombarded her with questions as they twisted through the alleys and narrow streets of the slums.

The girl next to her gave him a glance. "Is that their new name for me?"

Speedy's eyes turned wide as saucers beneath the mask. "You're the Prophet?"

Lora nodded, then slowed her pace. "Your friends are over there." She pointed her finger to Raven and Aqualad collapsed on the ground.

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It was so nice and warm...Raven didn't want to wake up, but she opened her indigo eyes, hearing the murmer of voices. She had a headache, and she winced as she sat up. This was a strange house to her. The hole in the roof leaked a chilly breeze, but the fire beneath it helped keep it cozy. On the wall were intricate wooden sculptures of all kinds. One that looked like a rose particularly entranced Raven. She saw that she was in a small room off to the side of the house, and the voices were coming from the room next door. Raven gave a sigh of relief when she recognized one as Speedy's. But how on earth did she get here?

The Timestream...almost drowning, but a violent wave lead her to the shore...and then she saw the bridge, and heard someone running over towards her...Was it Speedy?...then she had blacked out. But they were only fragments of memory. Now she knew how Terra felt.

The girl in purple stood slowly, and walked over to the carved rose, picking it up and feeling the detailed grooves in her hands. She let it float back to its rightful place with her powers, and then she turned around, to see another lying figure on a dilapidated chair. Aqualad. Raven breifly closed her eyes, reaching out to his mind, trying to understand what happened as she was asleep. Flashes of the water, of the red bridge, she felt his shock as the island without the Tower, and his flimsy hope that he wasn't in Jump City...and then she felt his fear when he saw her...why would he be so scared for her?...she then felt the pain in his leg as he walked aimlessly, and she realized that if it werent for his need to find her a place he would have collapsed and given up long ago-

Raven disconnected her mind and tried to calm the weird twist in her stomach that had appeared. She was not emotional. The half-demon exited the room and found Speedy, sitting at an old wooden table, talking with a strange girl. A strange girl with lots of power- Raven felt the twinge in her mind as the girl in green looked over and gave her a smile.

"Hello Raven, " the girl said in a soft voice. "It's very nice to meet you. I am Lora." Raven nodded her head, a neutral look on her face.

"Lora," she finally said. "So...where are we?"

"We're in the future," Speedy said. He then explained everything that had happened to him up until that point. "And," he said, lifting up part of his shirt to show his mended side," Lora can heal people." So that was the power Raven had sensed. But it was very powerful for just powers of healing.

"Then you can heal Aqualad's leg?" she asked hesitantly. Lora gave her a grin and nodded.

"As soon as he wakes up," she replied. "But in the meantime, I think perhaps you should see where your other friends are first."

Raven nodded and left to meditate, but Speedy slapped his forehead. "We are so stupid!" he cried.

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At the entrance to the city, Robin was saying the same thing. "We are idiots," he growled, and yanked his communicator out. "Starfire, Raven, Speedy, anyone, COME IN!"

A short bout of static, and then...

"Robin?" Starfire's angelic voice immediately put Robin in a better mood. He gave a quick start, then let slip a grin.

"S-Starfire, where are you guys? And who all's with you?" Starfire moved the communicator so that Robin could see through the round camera Beast Boy and Terra, discreetly holding hands- minus the discreet part. They too were talking on a communicator.

"Speedy had just given us a call right about when you did. It's odd how the communicators never 'crossed the minds'," she said with a giggle. "It is gloriousto hear from you both. Speedy, Aqualad, and Raven are with an ally in the slums of the city. We are heading there right now," she finished. "Here is the map that Speedy sent us." A map of somewhere very familiar appeared on Robin's screen.

"That's of Jump City," Bumblebee said. She had been looking over Robin's shoulder.

"Star," Robin said, " Why is this of Jump City?"

"Because," she said sadly," that is where we are." Robin's eyes bulged and he replied swiftly," We'll see you in a sec, Star...I'm glad you're safe." The alien princess gave a small blush in return, and said her goodbye.

Robin snapped the communicator shut. "Titans," he said," It's time to move out."

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The door opened and Raven immediately got into a battle stance. They used the communticator instead of her powers; and as a result she was currently just standing around listening to Lora cooking and waiting for a certain merman to wake up. Too frazzled to even think about meditating, Raven was bored and on edge when said door was opened.

A young boy walked in, shutting the door quietly. He looked like Lora, with curly brown hair coming to the bottom of his ears, and sharp brown eyes that took a glance at both Raven and Speedy in turn. "Who'r they?" he finally asked.

Lora shook a finger at him. "Lann, where have you been! I was looking for you everywhere, and then those Sladebots-"

"Sladebots? I thought we were in the future." Aqualad walked slowly in. Raven turned subtly so that she could see him out of the corner of her eye. He was alright. Then she mentally rolled her eyes. Half demons did not get crushes. But then again, there was the other half. Raven let out a quiet hiss of air. Emotion wasn't her thing...Aqualad had some nice hair...Raven growled and put up her hood.

"Whatsa matter with her?" the boy now known as Lann asked. Aqualad looked over at her and gave an easy going grin.

"Hey, you feeling better?" he asked. Raven nodded, but kept her hood on. "Um..that's good then," Aqualad finished lamely.

"Lann, where are the people I told you to find?" Lora asked after a pause.

Lann shrugged. "If they follow directions, they should be here soon."

"Oh Lann," Lora sighed. "I had hoped you would follow MY directions and lead them here. No matter, Speedy just sent them a map."

"How would you have known about them before?" Aqualad's question went unanswered, and that raised Raven's suspicions. Speedy leapt out of his chair (glad to have a newly healthy rib) and grabbed the merman's shoulder.

"Hey," he said," this is Lora. She can heal your leg." Then he started explaining how he contacted the others and what had happened. As he was doing so, Lora healed his leg, Lann sat in a corner and tried to sleep, and Raven quietly slipped once more into the back room to meditate. The others would be here soon, and then Lora would explain her story.

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sorry this took so long to get up- i'm getting to the point where it's not quite planned out, but i'll do that soon, and then chapter nine will come (yay)

Silver Miracles