18. Not Meant to Be

Robin stood on the roof of Titans Tower watching the sunrise. It was beautiful but he would much rather be with her right now instead of all by himself. Shed been gone for about two weeks now and he was pretty sure she wasn't coming back. The time he spent with her he had enjoyed very much and he thought she had too, but apparently he'd just been fooling himself. Raven had been kind of right about her. He was sure that she was wrong about the being evil part, but she had been right about her being very good at pretending. It still was very hard for him to believe that she would just leave, but from what Raven had told her this seemed to be her thing. He spent every morning just the same as this one. Staring off into the city for any sign that she had returned, but just the same as the rest of the mornings there was still no sign of her. Depressed he went back down in to the tower. Raven met him at the bottom of the stairs. Carefully she placed her hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. They stung deep with depression. This was much worse than she had expected. She knew that he'd been hurt by her disappearance, but it never occurred to her how bad it actually was. She took on a bold look and then spoke.

"Robin, I know she hurt you, but please try to move on. I know thats not really your thing, but its hard to see you like this. And not just for me, but for everyone. Were worried about you; you're not yourself any more."

His only response was to turn his eyes away from hers. This was his way of dealing with it. He knew that he didn't have a chance of ever seeing her again, but he couldn't ever make himself stop hoping. She saw his reaction and knew that there would be no more said about it. Removing her hands she spoke quickly while turning around, "It's not my business, I know, just please consider what I'm saying." Once again Robin was alone.

Erika clung tightly to Collins back as he ran. She was fast, but no where near as fast as everyone else so he'd agreed to carry her to make better timing. They'd been running for about an hour and a half, soon they would arrive at the city. Gypsie was to the left of him and to his right was Red X. Collin was the only one who'd never been to the city, even though he was the fastest he couldn't run ahead.

Although it'd been awhile she just couldn't become accustomed to his speed. Every bump and change of direction made her stomach turn. The city was within seeing distance now. She saw the outline of all the buildings. In the center of the city there was a large T shaped tower. Once again she began to see flashes of images through her mind. They weren't painful at all so they didn't bother her. She saw the tower in them, she knew that she'd been there before, but just like her earlier visions she couldn't place what it was or when she'd been there.

"Now remember once we enter the city we must slow our pace we can't have anyone notice us. If they do our plans are sure to fail." Gypsies instructions were very clear. Every one knew that even if an ordinary person spotted them their mission would be jeopardized.

"Collin, once we get into the city, well be traveling at a normal pace I think I can walk."

"Yeah wed probably look pretty funny and would draw attention to ourselves."

They entered the city and Erika climbed carefully off Collins back. She set her feet on the ground and fell the minute she put all of her weight back on her own body. Everything spun and she wasn't sure why; she knew that the speed had bothered her, but not enough to cause her to become dizzy. This had happened once before in her life; something was about to happen and she was sure that it would be bad.

"Erika, get off the ground we don't have time for this. Do you want to ruin our whole plan." Gypsie's voice was very angry. She couldn't have her messing around at a time like this every second was vital.

Collin helped her back to her feet and they hurried through the city. They kept to back roads and alleys it would be the easiest way to be certain that no one would see them. They made it to the cave with out any problems. They actually hadn't seem any people, in fact the only living thing they saw was a rat with an eerie glow to its fur, but like a rat could cause them any problems.

As soon as the people had passed the rat hurried out off the alley and onto the street. Making sure no one was around the rat changed. It was no longer a small furry creature it'd changed into a bird and flew off in the direction of Titans Tower. It flew quickly and the minute it made it to the Tower it transformed once again, this time to a person. Beast Boy ran into the Tower and hurried to the living space where he found Raven meditating, usually he wouldn't bother her but this was important.

"Raven, Raven," he practically shouted, "Where's Robin, this is really important!"

"In his room, why?" But he hadn't heard the last part he'd already dashed off towards Robins room.

Halfway to his room he ran into Robin knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey Beast Boy watch where you're going. Where are you in such a hurry to?"

He didn't slow down when he spoke. "To find you, Robin you'll never guess who I found." He didn't wait for him to answer he just continued talking. "Erika, I saw her I was on the west-side of town. She was with a couple other people but I didn't get a good look at who they were, they were all heading towards Terra."

It took a moment for everything he said to register in Robins mind, but once it did he got up quickly and hurried out of the Tower. He grabbed the R-cycle and rode off. He couldn't believe how his luck was changing. Erika was back and he hoped to convince her to come back to the Titans.

Red X and Collin stood in the entrance to the cave watching to make sure no one was coming near them while Gypsie and Erika stood in Terra's chamber. Erika stood with her eyes closed, focusing her power, and searching for the girls mind. The rock was thick and she just couldn't seem to find it. Perhaps she'd been frozen here too long and there was no signal for her to trace, but Gypsie wouldn't let her give up so easily. Many minutes of staining her powers later, she found it. She focused all of her power to her mind and sent some of it toward the signal. When it was completed she opened her eyes, but nothing had changed. Terra still stood frozen in stone in front of her, it hadn't worked. Gypsie walked to her side and grabbed her by the front of her cloak.

"You have been very helpful to me so far, but if you don't get this right I swear you will not live to see outside of this cave ever again."

At that moment the statue of Terra began shaking. Gypsie quickly dropped her and ran to the girls side. The rock shattered and Terra fell from the platform. Gypsie caught her before she hit the ground. The blonde girl stared at her in shock and then spoke.

"Who, who are you, where am I?"

She didn't answer her she just looked at Erika. Walking over to Terra she placed her fingers to Terra's temples. She then performed the technique shed performed on Collin. Just like when Colin had changed Terra made no sound her eyes just went blank and she fell limply into Gypsies arms once again. At that moment Red X and Collin rushed into the room.

"Gypsie, theres someone coming, what do we do?"

She placed her fingers on the sides of her forehead.

"It's Robin, one of the Teen Titans. Erika stay here and handle him, the rest of you, follow me."

Collin picked up the girl and they all ran out the back of the hideout. Erika on the other hand walked to the room before the one in which Terra had once been.

The room was very dark and it was hard to see. The only light was from what seemed to be a window that glowed orange from the lava on the other side of it. Once her eyes focused she saw the boy standing in the middle of the room. She saw visions of her past, but unlike the many other times it had happened before she knew exactly what everything was. Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg, and most importantly Robin, she remembered them all. She ran quickly to face Robin; he was in danger and she didn't know how long it would be until Gypsie returned to finish him off.

"Robin, what are you doing here?" Even though she tried not to her voice was anxious and full of worry she just couldn't keep her mind off what would happen when she returned.

"Looking for you. Ive been worried, why did you leave."

She completely ignored his question and continued down her list of priority questions. "How did you find me; who told you I was here?"

"Beast Boy saw you, but you're dodging my question why did you leave."

"We don't have time for your question, its not relevant. You-"

"Erika, just answer it. I wont ask anymore, I just need to know."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I left because I'm a hazard to you all. I was putting you in danger and I couldn't live if I hurt my friends. Now Ive answered your question so shut up and listen to me. You need to leave and as much as it hurts me, I cant come with you. I couldn't survive if I knew I was responsible for your death."

"I've spent the last two weeks looking for you why would I leave once I've finally found you again."

"Do you care nothing for your own life? If you stay you'll die."

"I'm not afraid off dying; if I was I wouldn't be a super hero."

He placed his hands around her shoulders and she couldn't remember why she wanted him to leave. Even if his life was endanger at this very moment, with his hands on her shoulders she could really care less. His leaving wouldn't make her happy and she finally had happiness. Taking a couple steps closer to him she pushed to her tiptoes until she stood at about his height. She continued to lean closer to him until their faces were only millimeters away. Thats when her conscience kicked in. She turned her face away from his.

"Oh this is so wrong." She groaned as the happiness she had felt subsided.

"Erika, whats wrong."

At that moment the rest of the Titans appeared behind Robin. They were all in defensive positions, they knew something bad was about to happen.

"Robin, somethings not right here." Ravens voice was shaky; even she was a little frightened.

"Good job Erika, I thought you'd betrayed us, but it seems you've drawn out the whole Titan army." Gypsies voice was very confident, in a few minutes all that would be left of the Titans would be dead bodies.

The Titans all looked very shocked and she turned to see what had surprised them. Behind her she saw not the three people she had expected, but four. Red X, Gypsie, Collin, and Terra all stood behind her.

"Come my child, join your team and well destroy the Titans!"