a.n.: Moon's Darkness- Yep, it's finally over. Which is kinda nice for me, 'cause I started writing it back in October of '04. So it's actually really nice to be DONE with it. Glad you liked it:3 raven717- Chapter 12 for the second time. Impressive feat. I would've quit on 3. XD; And I'm already on something new... Harry Potter. :3 VampireSelene- Hehe, great reviews. Short, sweet, and to the point. Thank you for all of them. :) darkraven5192- I'm glad you were so intrigued by the story. And yes, I was rooting for Slade to win against Robin, too. X3; He's just way cooler than the boy wonder. Spread the Slade love. LoL. lolopixie- X appeared in the last chapter only 'cause raex18 requested him. hehe. And since there was a fan following, he's in the epilogue, too. I must say, I've grown attached to him. :3 LoL. Glad you liked/got the ending. :D hehe. This sorta continues that ending-yet-not-ending kind of an... ending. Yeah. Kendra Chetnova- Is that name supposed to be Russian, 'cause that what it sounds like. I think of James Bond. LoL. Anyway... you smell a sequel? Really? I just smell food... hehe. IF (very, very stressed word) there is a sequel, it won't be X and the Titans still chasing after Raven. That's what they were doing in this story. I'd be reinventing the wheel, as they say (and I've always wanted to have a chance to use that line somewhere XD). It'd be more focused on Slade's teaching of Raven. Not that... I've given it any thought or whatever... -nervous cough- osilus- Thank you very much. Glad you liked. :) nevermore199- Bad things will happen to me if I don't write a sequel? Pfft... please... I've got penguins and cheese and crazy people already after me. Bring it on, sister. LoL j/k (I'm just really hyper tonight after watching Avatar.) It's awesome you liked the story so much. But it had to end sometime. Zarola- Yay, you got the ending! And it may be cruel, but that's kinda how I ended the epilogue, too... with it slightly hanging open for a nonexistent sequel. :3 faLLen-dreamz- Dangit, all you people with sequel talk. x.x;; Am I some kind of Titan story-producing machine? LoL j/k Glad you liked the story... and that you stuck with it to the end. ...Here's the end. :D psycicflower- Weee... St. Patrick's Day. I didn't wear green. I should feel more ashamed than I am. o.O; Anyway, yay, you stuck with the story to the end. That deserves some recognition. Or a plaque. And... ice cream trucks... well, I live in a small town, but I just hear them in the summer. It'd be strange seeing them any other season, I think. Up here in Ohio, we get snow about half the year. x.x;; (Exaggeration, but still...) And how are/were mocks? gracefulraven- I hear there is a Titan movie planned. Something about Tokyo. Cool. :D I'm really glad you liked the story enough to keep reading through the months. And good luck with your story. I'm waiting for updates. :) raex18- Yes, X is back... completely and totally because you requested it. I'm serious. I wasn't even planning on putting him in that last chapter... or this one... except that he was wanted. LoL. Though he is starting to grow on me. Tritium- You're never getting the plaque back... -shifty eyes- Anyway, the epilogue is here... but the sequel... nyeh. How about "They lived happily ever after"? j/k Anyway, glad you liked it and endeared it even with its typos. :)

Another little note... just a reminder from way back in chapter 21 after the question/dueling game, Raven said: "You know, you said you thought love wasn't enough... I might've just done it for the stability and companionship."

Epilogue

A shadow emerged from the floor, quickly taking the shape of a hooded figure. It surveyed the dark room, keenly aware of the security cameras and motion sensors in the museum. However, its main focus was on the object in the center of the room, sitting nicely on a pedestal and surrounded by a glass case. It was a decrepit pottery vase, cracked and chipped with faded color. What it lacked in beauty it made up for in worth. The info tag next to it explained how it was one of the oldest artifacts found in one of the earliest pharaoh's crypts in Egypt. That made the vase priceless, no matter how aesthetically unpleasant it was.

The shadow figure glided right over to the case, easily avoiding all the beams and sensors. And there it waited. It seemed to take forever for the security camera to return to the famous artifact, but once it finally did, the dark presence phased through the case. It was visible through the glass and quickly arrived on the other side of the pedestal. The vase, however, was gone, and the shadow was melting into the floor.

Not long after that, Raven appeared in Slade's longtime headquarters. It was in the unbelievably spacious attic of the tallest building in the city. It had some banking or government function which Raven never really cared to know about. The only fact that concerned her was that they never used the attic. It rather resembled the rest of the building with all of Slade's hi-tech equipment set up.

Slade himself was on the far side of the room, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the windows. Raven could never figure out why windows had been put in the building's attic, but the view was amazing. She could even see Titans Tower out in the bay, though she tried not to look at it often.

Raven walked up to the man and gingerly held up the vase.

"I tired to be as careful as I could bringing it," she said. "It looks... brittle."

"It's not," Slade replied, taking the artifact from her. He juggled it carelessly from one hand to the other.

"What are you going to do with it?" Raven questioned. She watched the vase with worry as it repeatedly flew up into the air.

"Nothing. I don't need it, although it is nice to see it again. I merely wanted the museum camera to catch you stealing it. Just to let the Titans know we're still around."

"But... the vase," continued Raven with a horrified expression. Slade tossed it to her and she quickly caught it with her powers and reeled it into her grasp.

"It's fake," the man said simply. His gaze returned to the lit up city as Raven arched a questioning brow.

"And you know this... how?"

"I know because that was what I replaced the original with when I stole it a couple of decades ago. I sold the real vase to a rich collector. What you're holding, my dear, is worthless," Slade replied with a shrug.

-

Early the next morning in Titans Tower, Robin called everyone to the large screen in the living room. Among the assembled was X, who had become a frequent face in the tower of late. For the past few weeks he had been hanging around- ever since Raven had left.

"All right, everybody, listen up," called Robin. Cyborg had to nudge Beast Boy to wake him up.

"Raven's been sighted just last night." At that every trace of sleepiness disappeared from all the listening faces.

"Really?"

"Where?"

"Is she well?"

All their questions came at once followed by another round, making it impossible to understand any of them.

Robin waved his hands for silence. "A museum camera captured her stealing the oldest artifact there. Even though this was hours ago, there might be a chance we can still pick up her trail." He showed them the footage of the theft, to which they all agreed it was Raven.

"Let's start from the museum," ordered Robin. Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg immediately set out for the garage, but X stayed where he was.

"Aren't you coming?" the team leader questioned in a tone much too critical. X slowly got to his feet.

"I'll do my own searching, kid. And, no, I won't stay in radio contact with you."

Robin scowled. "Why not? We need to be sharing all the information we get all the time."

"Yeah... no we don't. Truth is- you guys annoy me. Amateurs bring my talent down." X gave an amiable shrug before heading for the side doors.

-

A couple of hours later, Raven reluctantly pulled herself out of bed. She was still tired from last night but she figured Slade had another task of some sort for her to do.

The girl slumped from the cluster of rooms on one side of the attic to the main area. The robots were all bustling about; they were constantly doing something. Slade as at the computer, looking over maps and blueprints.

"What's there to do?" Raven asked, stepping out of a droid's path. "Are we having practice this morning?"

"No," he replied quickly. "You may leave. There's nothing to be done." Raven balked.

"Leave? Like... I have the day to myself?"

"Unless you thought I was giving you permission to leave the planet," Slade said. His voice had an impatient tone ot it which his apprentice didn't catch.

"No, I just never expected to have a free day. I can really do whatever I want?"

With an irritated huff, Slade glared at her over his shoulder. "If it's going to be this difficult to get rid of you, next time I'll just have you locked in your room. Now leave!"

"Anger management," mumbled the girl as she turned and glided away.

"I heard that!" Slade called after her. "And if it didn't work fifteen years ago, it's not going to work now." He heard her snicker before phasing from the building.

-

Raven had been sitting for the longest time on a bench in the park. She could think of no place else to go, so she found a rarely traversed, forested path to just idle the hours away. For awhile, it was peaceful. Then...

"Hey, gorgeous. Come around these parts often?"

Raven's head snapped around to see X sitting on the bench back, his boots sprawled across the seat.

"You're stalking me," the girl huffed, turning away.

"No, I think you're stalking me. You just get to places before I do."

"Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Not until I find out where you're hiding. I mean, you don't really have to hide from anyone. All the enemies know where the Titans live... and they're practically never attacked. So why do you need to lie low?"

Raven didn't have an answer. Instead she bristled, "It wouldn't bother you so much if you stayed out of my business and left me alone! And that's a message you can take to Robin!"

"Hey, they're all worried about you," X quickly replied.

"Well, you can tell them to stop."

A noise of approaching people caught the thief's attention for a moment, and when he turned back to argue some more, Raven was gone.

"Hey!" he called, looking around, "that's my thing!"

-

The dark girl was somewhat pleased to know the Titans were worried, for she had once wondered how they would react if she were ever to disappear. Now, it didn't much matter, but she was still pleased, even though it was a piece of information she would quickly try to forget.

However, Raven thought X had brought up a good point about hiding. When she returned to the building that night, she sought Slade out and repeated the question.

The man was in his library, which was a small yet impressive collection of books taking up one whole wall in one of the rooms. He had informed Raven earlier that the library back at his home was grander.

"Why hide?" he repeated, shelving an old-looking book. "It's our advantage. You might as well ask me why I wear my mask."

"That's a good question, too," Raven admitted, though she had clearly caught his sarcasm. The girl leaned against the door frame as she watched him walk along the wall with the bookshelves.

"Again, it's my advantage. If you and the Titans had known what I looked like, you would've seen me all those times."

Raven's head shot up. "What times?"

"Oh, countless times. At the park, preferred restaurants, in the city streets... the list goes on." Slade paused to pull another, similarly old book from the shelf and browse through it.

"You mean you've been around us... in public?" Raven cried, not even trying to hide her surprise.

"One time in the park, the boys were playing some frisbee game and Beast Boy nearly trampled me trying to catch one of Cyborg's long throws. Don't you remember? Starfire came up and began apologizing for him," said Slade. He turned to his apprentice to watch her reaction.

"I remember... Beast Boy... he nearly fell over the bench. And I remember Starfire apologizing to the man... he had a hat... I think," Raven replied slowly, trying desperately to think of more.

"Yes, but you really don't remember the man, do you?" Slade chuckled. "See? Advantage," he added, slapping the book closed.

As he shelved it, the girl spoke up, "You don't have to wear it around here, you know."

Slade laughed. "Just because you're here, apprentice, does not mean you suddenly get to know everything. I still have many secrets, unfathomable even by you. If there comes a time when you ever deserve to know any of them, you will know them." He walked towards the door. "You may be here for stability and companionship, but we are most certainly not married. So stop looking for special treatment." As he ended, he slipped past her and out of the room.

Raven watched him walk down the hall toward the main area and pass all her twenty robots, who were nearing her.

"Hey guys," she greeted with a smile. They really were the prettiest things she had ever seen. "Did you get all my stuff from Titans Tower? Hey, all right. Let's go decorate."

--
Yay! I have reached the end of the story! I don't know about you, but that's enough closure for me... after writing this thing for over a year. x.x; (I checked the story information on my computer and I started writing this back in October '04).

And for all you people asking of sequels. I'm leaning more towards no. / After a year of "Influence," I'm kinda outta this story. I need a break. ;.; Now I'm focusing on Harry Potter. Possibly another year-long story on my part. Don't know if that's the smartest thing, but...

Just want to say to all the readers: reviews are a wonderful thing, so thank you for being so nice and replying. It was great hearing from you and learning of all the tortures I could endure if my updates were sub par. :3 (Still waiting for those penguins, btw. Maybe they're lost...)

And did anyone find "Influence News" helpful? Or read it at all? LoL