30Kisses Theme Ficlets
Robin/Raven
By Kysra
Theme #25 (fence ): Inclosure
The truth hurts, and the truth was . . . they had never been friends.
It was all an accident. She had come to Earth due to a desperate need for a redemption she could not truly desire; and he had agreed to form this impossible group of kids playing dress-up because he had had something to prove.
Another truth that burned into his soul: He had failed.
There was Slade and his powder then Trigon and his resurrection. There was a reluctant merging of minds and her seeming destruction with the passage of her father into their dimension. But . . . but . . .
It had not been such a reluctant merging, and she had not been destroyed. Her haste to come to his rescue had always been a point of confusion for him just as his need to rescue her twisted his insides deep into night where the nerves shocked into nightmares.
Still, the mutual regard for each other's safety wasn't the issue that shattered the illusion of their supposed friendship. It was the fact that he had willingly allowed her to see everything that he was, trusted her with all the secrets he still kept from the others. It was the truth of her own willingness to forget everything she had ever experienced, everything she had ever been and would be once all the shields were down and all that remained was a vulnerable little girl trying to find refuge.
And she had run from him. For once she wasn't hiding behind the mask of her non-expression. For once her fear and confusion were evident in her eyes, the new lilting tones of her voice, the quivering mouth and she could not trust him, could not recognize him.
He had waited, patiently, since meeting her, growing accustomed to her strange ways and the tortured history that seemed just beneath the surface but would never be learned; and finally, finally the stony inclosure that had always kept everything out and everything in had been destroyed. However, the demolition had taken something precious from her as well as him -- her memories.
It was selfish, he knew, that he would rather her remember all the pain she must have kept close throughout her life just so she could fulfill his desire to be recognized. Or maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was even more callous and self-serving. He wanted her to suffer because he did.
Because the truth hurts and the kiss of disappointment left him with this singular fact: They had never been friends; and they could never be more.