1A/N: "How far is heaven? That answer will always be the same for me... now and forever just outside my reach." Does anyone nowhere that's from or did I make that up. I really don't know anymore and I'm kind of curious. Anyways, I'm slightly bothered by this chapter because its...well fluffy but it had to be done despite my upmost resistance. Well I'm just going to post it and go back to decomposing on the couch but first...thanks for the reviews I got. C.J...there is no secret to my writing though it does help to be slightly off mentally when it comes to creativity and MyChemSweetie...hypothetically...yeah...hair grows back, possessions are fleeting, and might want to take it easier on rash decisions for awhile but hey, what do I know.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but hey, I think we all knew that already

Trying To Do the Right Thing

Chapter 19

By: Finalitylife

Raven's anger again had gotten the best of her and she had been unable to suppress her powers. The result: a powerful telekinetic wave had unleashed from her body, attacking outward at the object of her frustration, object of her arguing, object of her affection. She cringed deeply when she heard the solid impact of what only could have been Robin and the wall and knew she had hurt one of the people who cared for her, only emphasizing that she was indeed a monster. She had hurt the leader of the Titans and now...she did her best not to imagine the reactions of the other Titans at her horrid crime. However, she could still hear Robin's voice, him still speaking to her through the door despite her being able to feel his consciousness fading. He had tried to reach her after learning the truth from the source itself and now...now he continued to try and reach her even after she had lashed out at him.

Eventually, Robin was heard no more and a scared and worried Raven found herself pacing back and forth in her room, unsure of what she should do. However, her caring overrode her fear and she opened the door to her room. The hallway was no more illuminated than her room had been due to the fact that all the light bulbs had been broken by her chaotic emotions and her self loathing tantrums yet there was Robin clear as day, slumped quietly over on the ground, his head hanging limply, no movement except for very shallow breathing.

Raven quickly kneeled beside him, ignoring the pieces of glass that began to dig into her exposed knee as she gently took Robin's head in her hands, inspecting the extent of what she had wrought on him. She found the smallest bit of blood on the back of his head and immediately her healing glow lit up the hallway. She would have been more worried about the injury but she knew Robin had suffered far worse and forced himself to walk away from them. He used to, only on rare occasions, allow her healing touch to be used on him, refusing the help because of his own stubborn pride. How she used to curse that damn stubbornest for being the reason he refused her help, but at this moment, as she healed him from injuries she had herself inflicted upon him, a small part of her couldn't help but smile at his stubbornest.

She so badly wanted to continue to believe in her own words, in what she knew to be the absolute truth, but she also could not argue with the fact that she knew that Robin's final words held no falsehood, were of his absolute truth. Raven loved Robin as completely as she could, knew he was not perfect and loved him regardless, and she knew that of his flaws, being a liar was not one of them. There was one glaring exception to this fact but during the Red X incident, Raven had known he was hiding something, just could not figure out what it was. This time, she knew he hadn't been hiding anything or lying about anything. He truly believed that she was not evil, was not a monster, and was dead set on doing everything within his power to help her. So blatantly stubborn as he refused to acknowledge that there was no chance for him to save her even after everything he now knew. He was not going to back down in the face of the Apocalypse all because of her, because he saw something she herself could not see within her own self, believed the impossible possible.

"Robin...I know you want to help but you...you just can't. It simply is not possible. This is my unavoidable fate, my destiny, what I was born to do. If there was a way to stop all of this, it would have been found years ago. Why can't you understand that?" Robin's hand unexpectedly shot up from its prone spot by his side and grabbed hold of the hand Raven was using to heal him. She let out a startled yelp at the incredible swift movement from a formerly unconscious person but also because she found herself unable to dam the flood of emotions that were now flowing into her mind. .

"Because...," His voice was dry and weak sounding bit still it did not lack any of his normal confidence and conviction, the sheer determination of will that truly defined the human leader of the Titans. "Because I refuse to believe in the lies you keep telling yourself and I refuse to believe there is no hope for someone...someone as wonderful as you." Raven couldn't help but blush at the feel of his touch and the sincerity of his words though it only lasted a moment before she turned her head away, choosing to look at the ground. She continued to fight against the warm feeling that bombarded her mind from his contact, from his soul.

"Its not that simple Robin."

"Its never simple Raven, but that won't stop me from believing what I believe and doing my best to protect what I care about." Raven turned her head back to face Robin and could almost feel his eyes boring into her soul from under his mask, their emotions synchronizing into one.

"Robin..." The name softly and tenderly came off her lips.

"Raven..." Her name spoken with warmth and hopefulness.

"Robin!" The strange trance was broken by Cyborg's deep baritone voice. Both of the two birds heads snapped toward the source of the voice and spotted a beam of light coming from around the corner of the hallway. It was Cyborg's shoulder mounted light and following right behind him were Starfire and Beast Boy who seemed to be trying to hide behind him in the darkness.

"Over here Cyborg." Robin gave a small wave, emphasizing where he was which was in fact still on the ground with Raven kneeling next to him. He very reluctantly let go of her hand and slowly stood up to his feet, Raven doing the same. As he reached his full height, he felt a wave of dizziness hit him, and he stumbled over, Raven catching him, her small body doing its best to support his weight. Robin gave her a warm smile.

"Looks like its you whose catching me for once." Again Raven blushed slightly though any redness on her face easily hidden by the dark hallway.

"You okay man? I don't ever see you stumbling around." Cyborg's concern evident in his voice.

"I'm fine Cy. Just been feeling really tired lately." It was not lost on Raven that Robin had not mentioned the fact it was her who had probably given him a partial concussion. "And for the record, I thought I told you to stay in the infirmary and keep on eye on those two." Starfire and Beast Boy's head peeked out from behind Cyborg.

"Well as you can see I am still keeping an eye on those two and for the record, I wasn't all that comfortable in the infirmary. Place was just creeping me out with all these weird beeps and creaks. I figured the safest place in this tower, despite her tendency to break light bulbs is with Raven since she is the one who knows most about what is going on and the fact that she did whoop up Slade like he was a nothing." As Raven listened to the conversation, she kept using her empathy over and over again with the other Titans, refusing to believe what she was reading from each of them. They were afraid, they were nervous, but more so at this moment of the dark than her. This was one of the first times she had actually made an effort to truly feel what they were feeling. She had always assumed...always knew what they would feel when they knew the truth, but now...its simply couldn't be.

"Alright, I'll let this one slide Cyborg. It probably is best that we are all together right now." Robin turned and gave Raven a reassuring smile but all she could do was look at the floor, not wanting to meet the eyes of any of the Titans though this did not stop her from speaking.

"How...how is this possible? Why aren't you afraid of me...why don't you want to spit on me and hurt me like all the people of Azarath? Why?" The three other Titans were a bit startled by Raven's sudden outburst, her emotional plea. Robin gritted his teeth slightly as he hoped at least he had gotten through to her a little bit but he was holding out that maybe...just maybe things would start getting better when she understood the truth from all of them. It was Cyborg who took the initiative to respond to the young woman who still refused to look at any of them.

"Well that's easy Raven. Because we know you would never intentionally hurt anyone, because we know truly who Raven is, and because we all love you a lot. I mean you left for not even a day and we all pretty much broke down completely. We need you girl, more than I think you understand. You're a big part of this strange little family we got going on here and nothing, not even some world ending prophecy is going to change that."

"Yes Raven. I know I have done terrible things to you but you were kind enough to forgive me and...and in the time that I have known you, you have become the only one I could ever consider to be a sister and the best one anyone could ever wish for." Raven eyes slowly shift up the three Titans standing in front of her. Words could always mean very little to Raven but because of her empath abilities, just like before with Robin, she could feel the genuineness of their words, the exact emotions they were each feeling as they said them. Raven knew...she knew that everything they were feeling right now was something good and it was all directed at her.

"Yeah and Robin aside, who else can help me work on the T-car without mangling everything they touch. And never forget we need you around to make fun of Beast Boy."

"Yeah and make fun of Bea...hey man that's not funny." The smallest of smiles found its way to Raven's face. "Come on Raven, you know its because we need you around to laugh at all of my hilarious jokes." A serious look suddenly sprung up on Raven's face.

"I never have and never will laugh at one of your jokes Beast Boy." Beast Boy's large grin fell completely. "However... I must admit that there are times when you can be...mildly amusing." The Cheshire Cat sized grin returned immediately as Beast Boy started hopping up and down like an excited ten year old.

"Did you hear that! Did ya did ya! She said I was funny. Everyone heard that right? Please tell me you got that on recording Cyborg?" Cyborg smiled slyly down at his smaller friend.

"Sorry B.B. but I just missed it." Everyone started laughing as Beast Boy began pouting mumbling under his breathe about it not being fair. Even Raven couldn't suppress her smile along with many other bright feelings dwelling within. Robin took the opportunity to lean over and whisper in Raven's ear.

"Do you understand now Raven. We will never judge you for something that will never be your fault and we all will stand beside you forever. We all love you Raven." Out of nowhere, even unexpected to the dark young woman, Raven flung herself at the three Titans in front of her, doing her best to pull them all into one simultaneous group embrace though she was rather unsuccessful due to her small arms, Cyborg's considerable bulk, and maybe the fact that Raven was simply not used to giving people hugs. Each of the three wrapped a comforting arm around the small girl and Robin couldn't help but laugh at the very disorganized and slightly awkward looking scene in front of him though his very heart was smiling to its very core at the sight. Raven always understood her place in destiny but now, she was starting to understand her place in life with the ones who loved her.

Eventually the heart-warming scene in front of Robin ended and Raven pulled herself free of everyone, adjusting her cloak around herself again, composing her emotions though she couldn't hide the slightest bit of moisture in her eyes.

"Thank you everyone. Thank you so much."

The rest of the night was spent laughing, eating, playing games and just talking doing things that everyday normal teenagers would do. It reminded everybody of the trip to the beach not long ago though it felt to everyone that it had been in another lifetime. Everyone laughed as Beast Boy still valiantly tried to play video games with only one workable hand and Cyborg was nice enough to actually let him win a few. Raven despite every ounce of her being protesting, allowed Starfire to braid her hair which was still past her shoulders from the first incident with Slade. She didn't know why she hadn't cut it yet back to its normal length. The outcome of the experience was the obvious disaster though Raven couldn't find the ability to be angry and the Tamaranian's bright, shining face.

Hours passed, the sun finally deciding to set, though despite the fact no one was afraid of the dark anymore, no one left the others sides, all falling asleep in the main room. Cyborg had even retrieved an extension cable so he could charge himself. Raven, however, had not fallen asleep though she was extremely exhausted. At this moment she found herself standing in the middle of the room, surveying the peacefully, sleeping forms of her friends. Cyborg was sitting up on the couch, his systems off. Beast Boy was completely sprawled out on is back on the couch next to him, the video game controller resting on his chest, all his limps flailed out, including the broken one. A soft snoring emanated from him. On the other couch, Robin was sitting up on the couch and only because she could feel it did Raven know he was sleeping. It was impossible to tell with his ever present mask. Next to him, with her legs tucked underneath her and her head on his shoulder was Starfire with a small bit of drool coming from her mouth. Raven couldn't imagine how she was comfortable as she was but she knew Starfire didn't exactly sleep normally as it was. She couldn't help but smile at all of them as they slept.

Despite everything else that was going one, Raven couldn't help but feel happy at this moment. Her whole life she had been waiting for her future to come swallow her up or she kept dwelling on a painful and lonely past. However, maybe her biggest mistake, as she was now realizing, was that she spent too much time looking backward and forward instead of simply looking at what she already had. The happiest moments of her life were when she simply took the time to enjoy the moment, and this...this was truly one of those moments. Letting out a large yawn, Raven glided forward and curled up next to the other side of Robin. She wrapped her arms around his one arm and placed her head on his shoulder and slept a peaceful, dreamless sleep, because there was no reason to dream, for her dreams were living within four very loved friends.