Disclaimer: Last time! I do not own the Teen Titans.
Well, guys, this is it, the last chapter. I'll put a note in at the end but just a head's up so you know. This chapter starts seven years after the end of the last chapter. Also, this does not take into account the events of How Long is Forever?. So, without out further ado, I give you for the last time...
The Bleeding Heart Show
Seven Years Later
Rain poured down from the sky, mixing with the dirt ground to form mud and leaving a damp chill in the air. On a hill just outside of the city, a lone boy stood in the cemetery. The grave he stood at was fresh, the dirt covering the coffin not yet covered with grass. He held an umbrella to keep himself dry, but a few scattered drops of rain still fell on him, dampening his coat and his ebony black hair. Tears pooled in his masked eyes as he read, for the hundredth time, the headstone that had been erected only a couple of hours earlier.
Starfire
1990-2013
Indispensable Teen Titan
Loyal Friend
The funeral had been a couple hours ago, and Robin had come only after everyone else had left, laying a bunch of roses on the grave and standing silently, his eyes playing over the engraved words. After he left he had driven downtown, and now he stood next to a café, waiting for the person he was meeting to show up. It had been seven years since he had left the Titans, seven years since he had seen the Titans, and six and a half years since he had been in constant communication with the whole team. Well, not the whole team. Robin never spoke to Starfire again after that night. Funny enough, the only one he had kept in touch with was Beast Boy.
After Robin had left, he had talked to Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy about once a week, for about six months. But when Cyborg and Raven had realized how strained the relationship between them and their former leader had become, they stopped trying to push it, and eventually, he stopped talking to them all together. But Beast Boy, surprisingly, or not surprisingly, felt the loss more than the other two did. He was the youngest member of the team, and when Robin left he had lost not only a friend but a mentor. Robin had been surprised to find that Beast Boy had continued writing to him once a week after the others stopped, but soon he began sending the changeling regular letters, too.
Beast Boy had helped Robin design the Nightwing costume, but because Robin never told him his real name, and because Nightwing was long, he continued to call him Robin. From his written dialogue with Beast Boy Robin was able to stay up to date with what was going on in the Tower. Cyborg had created new robotic limbs that were sleeker and stronger, Raven had taken Cyborg's place as second in command, Beast Boy was trying to find time to take classes at the local college, and Starfire… Beast Boy's letter always got hurried when he got to the parts about her. In the only letter Robin had written mentioning her, he had told Beast Boy his true reasons for leaving, and had asked him to watch over her. After that Beast Boy mentioned her in every letter, even though Robin never asked.
It was a letter he had written two years ago in the fall that had almost sent Robin into hysterics.
Robin,
Starfire is getting married. I'm sorry to say it so bluntly, but there's no way to sugarcoat it. His name is Phillip, and they've been dating for six or seven months. I've never mentioned him before because I thought it would blow over, and I didn't want you to worry. The date is two months from now. I'm sorry.
Beast Boy
Robin hadn't responded to that letter, and in fact had been nervous to open the next letter he received. But when he finally did open it three days after it arrived, he felt a mix of relief and guilt wash over him to find that the wedding had been canceled. No reason had been given.
"Hey, Rob." Robin's head snapped up upon hearing his name and he turned to see someone he hadn't seen in seven years standing beside him, still wearing his suit from the funeral. Had he not had green skin and hair, Robin wasn't sure he would have recognized the shape shifter. It was his face mostly. His eyes, once so full of excitement and youth, now looked serious and sad. But still, Robin could see the glint of mischief somewhere back there. Robin smiled.
"Good to see you."
Beast Boy nodded. "Yeah, you, too." Both boys' eyes fell now, as they remembered the reason they had decided to meet. After a moment Robin spoke up.
"Why don't we sit down?" After they had taken a seat in an empty corner of the café and had ordered and received hot drinks, Robin sighed. "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch much lately." The past month, even before hearing about Starfire two days ago, Robin had been busy and hadn't had a chance to respond to Beast Boy's letters. When he had answered the phone the day before yesterday to hear Beast Boy on the other end, he was surprised and instantly worried.
"Beast Boy? Is that you? What's wrong?"
Silence.
"Beast Boy, what happened?"
"Starfire died, Robin."
Silence.
Beast Boy shook his head. "No, it's okay. We've all been busy." He paused before continuing. "How do you like being solo? Being Nightwing?"
Robin sighed. "It's fine. I miss the team." Robin looked up and met Beast Boy's eye. "You guys have done well, though."
Beast Boy shrugged. "I guess. But it's different. At first it was weird, for a year or two. But now it's just different." Robin nodded. He understood. The team had moved on.
"Beast Boy, how did it happen?"
Said Boy raised an eyebrow, confused. "You left. We couldn't stop you."
Robin shook his head as he spoke. "No, that's not what I mean. I know why I left. I mean… How did… it happen?"
Then Beast Boy understood. He spoke quietly. "You never knew?"
"I didn't want to read it in the paper. I wanted to hear it from one of you."
Beast Boy swallowed. How were you supposed to tell one of your best friends about the death of the girl he had loved and left for?
"Two days ago," Beast Boy began, avoiding Robin's gaze, "She went out in the evening, at seven or eight o'clock. She bought a car a few years back and she said she wanted to drive that evening instead of fly. She said something about not being happy enough to fly or something. It was raining that night, and we got a call from her around eleven. She said she was coming back to the Tower, and she would be home in ten minutes. But an hour passed and she still didn't come home and then we got another call." A tear slipped down Beast Boy's cheek and he looked up. Robin nodded, urging him to continue. "It was the police. They said there had been a car accident and to come down right away. We got there as fast as we could. But by the time we got there… It was too late, Robin. The paramedics said she died instantly. She didn't feel anything at all."
"How did she crash?" Robin asked softly.
"It was raining really hard, and she didn't drive a lot, and we think she couldn't see the cars coming towards her. It was head on. The other driver broke a lot of bones but lived."
Robin nodded. He hadn't wanted to picture it, but he needed to hear it. He needed to know how it happened. Then a sudden thought made his breath catch. Two days earlier, that would have been… Seven years to the day he had left the team. Obviously Robin wasn't the only one who had figured that out.
"It's not your fault, Robin," Beast Boy said. "She wasn't used to driving. We shouldn't have let her go out alone when it was raining."
Robin laughed, a sad chuckle. "Who would have thought she'd go before me?"
Beast Boy didn't know what to say, so he sat silently, sipping his coffee. Finally he spoke up. "You could have come to the funeral, you know. No one would have minded."
But Robin shook his head. "No. It was for her. I would have just distracted people." Beast Boy shivered at his words, recalling Cyborg using the same line at Robin's second funeral.
Ten or twenty minutes passed, and the two former teammates exchanged small talk, talking about everything except the team and Starfire. Finally Beast Boy looked at his watch and then back at Robin. "I have to go. I told them I'd be back soon." Robin nodded and they both stood up. A thought occurred to Robin.
"Do they know you were meeting me?"
"No," Beast Boy said simply. "I wasn't sure if you wanted them to know."
"You can tell them. I don't care."
Beast Boy thought for a moment and then said, "You know, you could come back to the team now. Now that… Well, I mean, if you wanted to come back, I'm sure you could."
Robin smiled but shook his head. "No. I have my own thing now. I can't come back." Beast Boy nodded. As they walked outside they made a silent pact to leave certain things unsaid, such as the great possibility that since two of the members had left, the Titans may not last much longer.
When they got outside Beast Boy opened his umbrella and stuck out his hand. "It was good seeing you."
"Yeah," Robin agreed, shaking Beast Boy's hand, "We should keep in touch."
"I'll see you around then."
"Bye." Robin raised one hand in a departing gesture and turned to go when he heard Beast Boy's voice again.
"She didn't love him, you know."
Robin turned back to face him. "She didn't love who?"
"Phillip. That guy she was going to marry. She was just lonely."
"Did he love her?"
Beast boy shrugged. "I don't know. He liked her a lot and thought she was pretty, but love might be too strong a word." He met Robin's eyes then. "She always loved you."
Robin took a deep breath and turned away. "I'll see you around."
T-B-H-S
What are you supposed to say when someone tells you the girl you loved, who has died after years of not seeing you, loved you? What are you supposed to do? There are few words adequate to express what the feelings are.
Robin had found long ago that words and tears were not nearly powerful enough to express his feelings for Starfire. After he left the team he had stopped talking about her, hadn't even written about her. His head was always full of thoughts about her, but those thoughts were never associated with words, and never saw the light of day. Sometimes, he found, silence was the only way to express the magnitude of certain emotions.
Sigh. I'm feeling very mixed emotions right now. I had so much fun writing and posting this, but I'm glad I've finally gotten it all up. I hope you guys liked reading it as much as I liked writing it!
Also, I figuredI should say this: I got the title of this story from the song of the same name by The New Pornographers. The feeling of the song is the same feeling I get from this story- that in the end everything is sort of resolved but no one's happy.
I've got an idea fortwo stories,butthey probably won't be up for a while. I'll probably post some more oneshots, though.
And last but certainly not least: Thank you so much to everyone who has reveiwed. You guys were the reason I was posting! So, for old time's sake, please reveiw and I will be eternally grateful.
See you next time...
-Alibi2014