About a year later …
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the Tower. It had been raining heavily all day, and the team knew that crime would probably take the day off for the day, or at least any crimes that the local police couldn't handle on their own. That heavy rain drops pitter pattered against the large windows, creating a soothing rhythm that made the afternoon even more relaxed.
Raven was in her usual spot on the couch, with a book and a mug of tea and a scone at her side. Starfire was next to her, reading a graphic novel, one from Garfield's collection, from which Raven told her she could freely borrow. Nightwing and Cyborg were playing a video game. Dick was wearing a headset and Cyborg was using his Bluetooth interface to connect to the TV's audio, so the room remained silent.
They sat together for over an hour, until the guys decided to take a break.
"Anyone want a snack?" Cyborg asked as he headed for the kitchen.
Raven closed her book. "Guys, I have a question I need to ask."
Starfire stopped reading her comic book.
"Please, Raven, do the asking."
Raven looked a bit hesitant and didn't speak up right away.
"As you all know, I am looking forward to seeing Gar again in the next life … and my question is kind of about that."
She paused and sighed before continuing.
"As you all know, I'm half demon and … well … different from everyone else."
"Raven, there's nothing wrong with you." Cyborg interjected.
"What I'm wondering about is … do I have a soul? The reason I ask this is because I know there is no afterlife for demons. When they're destroyed, they're gone, their existence ends. Will that happen to me when I die? Will I simply end and be no more?"
"Hey, you're my little sis, of course you have a soul! How can you even think that you don't?"
"But I'm not your sister, Victor, though I often wish that I really was."
"Hey, you have a soul, end of story. Got it?" Vic said in a slightly angry tone. "And while you aren't my biological sister, you've always been my sister. And you are going to see him again. Heck, I'm looking forward to seeing B again."
Raven nodded. "Starfire, what do you think?"
The princess looked apprehensive before answering.
"Raven, we Tamaranians do not believe that mortals have an afterlife. I know that you hope to be with your beloved again, but I do not believe that will happen. I am so sorry. It is why I wish you would do the moving on, you are squandering your precious time."
Raven gace her a coarse look before turning to Nightwing. "Dick, what do you think?"
He frowned before answering.
"I don't know if there is an afterlife. I'm not saying there isn't one, just that I don't know. But if there is one, I can't see why you wouldn't be reunited with Garfield."
Raven nodded. "Thank you, thanks for being candid and truthful, and not just saying what I want to hear and ..."
Raven's reply was cut off by the crime alert. Dick ran to the mission console.
"An alien space ship is attacking a cruise liner in the bay, Titans Go!"
Raven, as she always did before a mission, removed her wedding band and stored it in one of the compartments in her jeweled belt.
-(-)-
There were actually four flying saucers attacking the cruise ship, though their motive was unclear. The liner was taking water and beginning to sink as panicking passengers were piling into life boats.
Starfire was the first to arrive and she threw star bolts at the saucers. Their shields deflected the blasts, and two of the saucers broke off their attacks to focus on the Tamaranian.
Nightwing and Cyborg split the T-Ship into two halves, each piloting their half and attacking the remaining saucers, also drawing them away from the cruise ship.
Raven joined Starfire in her battle. She started with a dark energy attack, shooting dark lightning bolts out of her palms. They hit one off the saucers, which careened away, its shields sparking and sputtering.
"Starfire, finish it!"
The princess, with a fierce look on her face, howled a war cry as she fired as volley of bolts at the saucer, which began to smoke and wobble. It exploded in a bright light of fireworks. Raven pumped her arm in victory.
"Let's get the other one!" She shouted.
Starfire began to pummel the other saucer with her star bolts, while Raven attempted to hit it with her dark lightning. Whatever was piloting the second ship appeared to have learned from the first one's mistakes and deftly dodged their attack, while firing back at them. Raven had to quickly duck to avoid the laser cannon shot.
"This is becoming annoying." The sorceress growled as she found herself on the wrong end of the saucer's guns, dodging shot after shot. "Starfire, a little help here, please?"
Raven's call for assistance did not go unanswered, as the Tamaranian hit the ship with several shots. Raven finished it off with her dark energy, and it exploded like the first one.
"Well done, Starfire. Let's help the boys out and ..."
Raven's sentence was interrupted by Nightwing's voice in her earpiece (another one of Cyborg's latest tech contributions): "Raven! Incoming!"
She turned around just in time to see the saucer Nightwing was chasing with his half of the T-Ship. Her eyes widened as it fired at her. She suddenly felt paralyzed, unable to even breath. She fell from the sky, tumbling and flopping like a rag doll. She saw the bay below her. Then, everything went black.
-(-)-
"Rave, wake up." A voice gently called out to her.
She slowly opened her eyes, and shrieked at the sight that greeted her.
"Gar! You're alive."
He smiled back at her. "Not really, I'm still dead, or at least what people in the shadow lands call dead."
She sat up, without taking her eyes off of him.
"So ...I'm dead too?"
He shook his head. "Nope, you're not dead."
She leaped on him and wrapped her arms around him. "Sweet Azar, please let this not be a dream."
He hugged her back and kissed her.
"It's not a dream. I'm dead, but you're not."
She pulled back and cupped his face in her palm. "Gar, what you're saying makes no sense. The living can't see the dead."
He kissed her on her forehead. "You're having one of those near death experiences."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that it's not your time yet."
"You mean I have to go back?"
"Yup."
"No … no, no, no … I don't want to go back. I want to stay here with you."
He shook his head. "It's not your time, and we don't want to stay here. This is limbo, trust me, the final place is much better. I was given permission to come see you here, because, you know, you've been kind of down and worried that you'd never see me again … Rave, it's all gonna be OK, we'll be together again, just not yet."
"But why, what point is there in me going back. I don't want to be there, I want to be here with you."
He smiled sweetly as he replied. "I don't know why you have to go back, just that there is a very good reason. There's something important you need to do over there before you can come over to this side, I just don't know what it is."
Raven noticed that he was beginning to fade away, and she shrieked.
"Gar, please. I don't want to wait a lifetime before I see you again."
"Don't worry about it. Even the longest life is but a mere moment in eternity, it'll go by fast."
"It won't if you're not there."
Gar was continuing to fade away. The last thing she heard was: "Rave, I'm always with you."
Raven suddenly felt wet. She coughed violently as she expelled water from her lungs and she was in excruciating pain. There was an arm wrapped around her, holding her head above the water.
"Gar, come back." She gurgled.
"She's breathing again, Star, I need you to pick her up and get her to the infirmary. She looks bad, really bad." Nightwing shouted into his comm link.
Raven lost consciousness a second time.
-(-)-
"She's waking up."
Raven tried to sit up in the med station, and groaned.
"Where am I?"
"You are safe, at home." Starfire said in a soft voice.
"You gave us quite a scare, little lady. Man, I don't know how you survived that fall, it should have broken every bone in your body. You are a lot tougher than you look."
"Cyborg's right, you've been in a healing trance for a whole day." Nightwing interjected.
Raven rubbed her head. "I feel awful."
"I'm not surprised, you had like 10 hairline fractures."
She continued to groan, then stopped. "I saw Garfield."
"What?" The three replied in unison.
"Apparently, I had a near death experience. I saw him, but he told me I had to go back, that it wasn't my time."
Starfire, raised her hand, and was about to tell Raven that it was her subconscious playing tricks on her. Nightwing knew what she was about to say and quickly pulled his wife aside.
"Star, let her have this … she needs it." He whispered to her. She nodded her agreement.
"Let me get some vitals, OK, Raven? I just want to be sure that you healed completely."
As Cyborg wheeled over the x-ray machine, Raven looked down at her waist.
"Where's my belt?" She asked in concerned tone.
"You did not have it when I brought you to the infirmary." Starfire replied.
Raven leaped out of the med station. "Has anyone seen my belt!?"
Dick stepped forward. "I fished you out of the water, but I don't recall if you had your belt on you when I did."
"She did not have it when I took her from you." Starfire added.
"It must be somewhere in the bay." Cyborg concluded.
Raven took off running. "Then I have to go find it."
"Whoa, whoa, you aren't in any shape to go anywhere, not until I give you the all clear. And what's the big deal, it's just a belt. You've got other ones in your closet, don't you?"
"My wedding band is in it. I have to find it!"
Nightwing placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "You need to get back into your med station. And don't worry about your belt, I'll make sure it's found, OK?"
Raven appeared to calm down. "OK, but you will start searching right away?"
"Immediately, now you rest and recover and leave it to me."
-(-)-
About three hours later ...
Raven was cat napping in her med station, when the sound of the infirmary door swishing open roused her awake. Nightwing was standing at the door with a smile on his face.
"We found it."
He walked in, followed by Starfire, Cyborg and Aqualad, who had the remains of her belt in his hands. One of the gems looked completely destroyed. With a big grin on his face he handed it to her. She frantically examined it and found the compartment, which she opened. Her wedding band fell into her hand, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she slipped it onto her finger. She looked at her friends and looked like she was about to cry.
"Looks like your belt saved you. I took the brunt of that laser blast that hit you, judging by the damage your belt took." Cyborg remarked.
"Thank you, all of you. This means so much to me."
"Actually, it was Garth who found it … we'll let you thank him in private." Dick said with a smirk on his face.
The other three filed out, leaving Raven alone with the Atlantean, who pulled up a chair and sat down next to her med station.
"You came all the way out here from Steele City to help. I don't know what to say."
"Well, when Nightwing explained to me that your ring was still in it, I understood how much it meant to you, and so did Bumblebee. She told me to take our T-Ship and go supersonic to get here as fast as possible. I mean, it makes sense, once I was here I enlisted the help of every fish and crab in the bay. It only took five minutes to find it."
"You didn't have to drop everything to do this."
"Well, I'm a widower too. Believe me, I understand why you wanted to get it back."
"I'm sorry I didn't come to Tula's funeral."
"It's OK, you were still recovering from losing Gar. They died with days of each other."
"Thanks for understanding … Garth … it's been years since they died … have you ever thought about, you know, finding someone else?"
His expression became somber. "Not really. The King will ask me once in a blue moon if I'm ready to move on, but I always say no. Bumblebee never asks, she doesn't have to, she understands. What about you?"
"They brow beat me into going on a date … he was a nice guy, but … I don't feel like any guy can measure up to Gar. How could I possibly try to replace him?"
"That's how I feel about Tula, she's irreplaceable."
They stopped talking and savored the silence for a few minutes.
"You're gonna think I'm crazy, but when I was out I almost died … and I saw him."
He nodded. "Actually, I believe you."
"You do?"
"Yeah, and I envy you. Did you talk with him?"
"I did, he seemed so warm and happy, and told me it wasn't my time and that I had to go back."
"Did you tell him you wanted to stay?"
"What do you think?"
"Yeah, dumb question. I'm glad you saw him, Raven, it gives me hope that I'll be reunited with her someday."
She gave him a hug. "You will be, and thanks for finding my ring." She pecked him on the cheek.
"It was my pleasure and honor." He replied.
-(-)-
OK, this chapter ended without the usual angst. I hope you liked it. I can't promise to update every day, but this chapter was begging to be written.