Chapter 5

X scowled as he watched the gentle rise and fall of the sheets that indicated the current occupant of his bed was still alive. The sun was just beginning to slip over the horizon, staining the bedroom with red-orange light. The dying light, turned the girls tawny hair to golden flames, and even caked in blood her hair still seemed to glow. A small frown marred her features, as though even after Raven's healing her body still remembered the pain it had endured.

Her eye moved rapidly behind their lids, and X knew she was close to waking. Leaning forward, he moved to shake her gently by the shoulder, only to have his wrist seized and twisted before he could make contact. Golden eyes opened, widening as the girl saw whom she held captive. Immediately, she let go, mouth opening to form an apology that rapidly dissolved into a cough. Wordlessly, the thief handed the golden-eyed girl the glass of water that had been placed by the bedside. A weak smile was the only thanks he received, before the girl reached for the glass with trembling fingers and took a hesitant sip of water. The moment the first drop touched her lips she gulped the water down, making X kick himself for not having thought too add electrolytes to the water, to counteract the possibility of dehydration, before hand. The second smile the thief was gifted with was more confidence then the first, and was accompanied with such a look of gratitude that X felt vaguely uncomfortable. This was the second time he had rescued this girl. He was beginning to think he was becoming as bad as the boy blunder.

"Thank you." Her recent bout of coughing was evident in her voice – a dry, rasp than permeated the softer tones.

"Your welcome." The words seemed to beckon in a heady silence, one filled only with breathing and the on-set of embarrassment. X groped around in the recesses of his mind for something to say.

"I suppose you want a shower." He said at last. His words were once again greeted with silence, forcing the thief to look at his guest. She was frowning at him, though the gesture was more one of confusion than anger. Eventually she nodded, her expression clearly telling X he was to leave the room.

Standing, the thief made his way to the door on silent feet. Pausing, with one hand on the wood, he spoke. "Bathroom's next door down – clothes are on top of the hamper. I'll be in the kitchen if you want to talk."

Cloistered in the darkness of her room, Raven breathed deeply in silent meditation. In Nevermore, Guilt raged a battle against Anger, the two emotions each warring for dominance and validation. Her return to the Tower had been greeted with a barrage of questions as to her whereabouts. Most has been deflected with a glare and a demand for privacy but Robin had caught her gaze and she had not been able to prevent the guilt that had flashed across her face. He had immediately launched an inquisition, all concern for her whereabouts disappearing under the knowledge of her guilt. His attack, though he would not see it as such, had left her flustered, and angry – fighting a mixture of shame and uncharacteristic pleasure at the thought of having provoked their stoic leader to anger.

She knew that part of her refusal to tell Robin of her whereabouts was due to more than a feeling of having betrayed the team's trust. In her heart she knew her silence was from an attempt to protect X – despite her attempts to convince herself it was to protect the nameless girl.

A knock on the door, jarred Raven from her thoughts, and left her with no time to suppress the emotions that had run rampant in Nevermore.

Annoyance permeating her features, the young mystic unfolded herself from her floating lotus position and marched softly to the door. The aura of shining happiness radiating from the other side of the closed metal barrier announced the identity of the visitor louder than words.

As the door slid open, Raven raised one eyebrow in mute question.

"Friend Raven, may I speak with you?" Starfire's arms were wrapped tightly around her body, her eyes brimming with a mixture of concern and fear of incurring Raven's wrath for the interruption.

At Raven's nod, the Tameranian princess floated gingerly into the room, hovering nervously just inside the door.

"Is there something I can help you with Starfire?" Raven asked sharply. Though she would normally have had more compassion for the other girl's obvious agitation, the combination of the healing and fending off Robin's questions had left her drained and irritable.

"I wanted to talk to you, Friend Raven, about the Red X?" Though obviously nervous about broaching the topic, Starfire's mouth was set in a stubborn line and her chin was raised in defiance of speaking of something so taboo. Even so, the emerald-eyed heroine did not fail to notice the tension that sprung to life in her companion or the flush of embarrassment or even shame that was quickly suppressed. She continued without waiting for Raven to comment.

"You were with him today, yes?" This time, Raven's agitation was undeniable.

"How - how did you –" the young witch trailed, off unable to comprehend this sudden clairvoyance in her friend.

"I saw him speak to you, on the roof, this morning." Starfire explained haltingly. "I had expected you to call for Friend Robin, for all of us, but you did not. Instead, you left with him." The hurt and accusation were clearly evident in Starfire's words and Raven felt an invisible hand clutch at her heart. Though she had initially disliked the exuberant girl who stood before her, time had endeared each to the other and Raven was not prepared to deal with the rift that now had the potential to draw between them.

Sighing she settled herself, cross-legged onto the floor and waited as Starfire floated down beside her. "He needed my help." She explained quietly. "A," she paused contemplating her choice of words, "friend of his was hurt. I healed her."

Starfire nodded solemnly when Raven finished speaking. "So there is nothing between you and the Red X?" she asked lightly. Raven hesitated and Starfire smiled softly. "I may not be familiar with the courting rituals of Earth, but it is my understanding that a villain such as the Red X would not take such a risk unless he were sure you would not act against him."

For a moment Raven said nothing, her hands smoothing restlessly over her cloak. "He was desperate." She said at last, though her tone belied the confidence of her words.

"Perhaps." Starfire conceded. Glancing up, Raven could clearly see the unspoken message in her friend's eyes.

"I'm a hero Starfire." She reminded the other girl gently. Green eyes regarded her with compassion.

"To quote a well known Earth saying: falling in love is not a crime."

Shadows splashed across walls and swallowed alley-ways, darkening tawny coloured hair to pale brown. Sighing, the girl who sold herself for a living, trudged through the bad-land's streets. Groups of teenagers were starting to huddle on street corners, whilst older men cruised in vehicles and older women bent to talk to them. Avoiding eye contact, and huddling deep into a borrowed coat she wound her way past darkened doorways and boarded up windows.

A hacking cough drew her attention to a shivering mass of rags and cardboard sheltered in an alleyway. She stopped long enough to watch a haggard old man roll over and expirate a mixture of blood and mucus onto the concrete before hurrying on her way.

At the back of her mind, a darkness – itched was the best word she could find to describe it. Unconsciously increasing her pace, she half-trotted until she arrived outside her door. Digging in her pocket she extracted the key she had retrieved from the warehouse earlier. The mere sight of the place had made her feel sick but she had been left without choice.

Slipping inside, she took a moment to rest her back against the door before straightening and heading to the kitchen. The sounds of muffled voices and clinking china indicated that the house's residents occupied the room.

Entering the kitchen, she had a moment to comprehend the looks of relief on the surrounding faces before a soft impact, swiftly followed by several more, diverted her attention to the group of children now hugging her. Pulling back, she scanned the room, taking stock of those present. Only one face was noticeably absent.

"Where's Alex?" she asked, worriedly. The tension in the room spiked, and the grim atmosphere she had initially attributed to her absence seemed to weigh even heavier in the air.

"They found his body a few blocks away, over past The Chains." Henry whispered, voice clogged with grief. "Jen brought us the news. She said – she said he'd been dead a couple of days."

"His last job?"

"We don't know." Henry admitted, tears sparking in his eyes. Disentangling herself from the hoard of children, the young healer who acted as a mother to so many, embraced the young boy before her, and let him cry.

Robin turned up the volume slightly as he listened to an immaculately dressed woman present the evening news.

"In a shock announcement earlier today, the Governor has announced that he is planning on pulling funding for an experimental bioresearch project being undertaken by Virotech Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in the year, the Governor gave the project his full support but says now that the programme has failed to yield the necessary results and that the money allotted to the project is needed elsewhere. Lead scientists at the company say that the Governor's expectations of the programme are unrealistic but that has not stopped the administration from terminating the research."

"Robin?" The Batman's ex-protégé turned his head to see the team's resident mechanic standing behind the large sofa that dominated the Tower's common room.

"Oh, hey Cyborg. What's up?" He resettled himself on the couch as his teammate sat down beside him.

"It's probably nothing," Cyborg told him, "But the Tower's biosensors have picked up a minor fluctuation in the harbour ecosystems, especially down by the old docks."

"The bad-lands?"

"Right. Now at the moment the changes aren't a clear sign of anything, but they get any worse, it could be a sign that someone's tampering with things down there."

Robin frowned as he processed the information. He knew what Cyborg was reluctant to say, and it plagued him that his team still felt they could not comfortably broach the topic of the thief with him – 'the one that got away'. "Red X has been by the docks." Robin stated. "He may up to something. We'll keep an eye out, but until then keep the sensors trained on the bad-lands, I want to know if something happens down there."

Henry clutched at the porcelain rim of the toilet bowl with hands that shook. Knuckles white, he wretched violently, fighting to draw air into his lungs as he heaved. He groaned in pain as the action caused a burning sensation to sear through his lungs.

The bathroom door opened, and the soft patter of feet, followed by the clumsy hand of a toddler patting his back notified him as to the identity of his visitor.

"Go back to bed," he croaked to his guest, "and don't tell your mamma ok?" A brutal cough tore through his throat once again; he barely registered the child's solemn nod and her exit from the bathroom. When he looked up, blood decorated the porcelain in a scarlet spray.

Making sure to stay in the shadows, X wandered the roofs of the badlands, surveying everything in sight. He wasn't sure if it was time altering his perception or reality but the place seemed bleaker and more worn than it had on his previous visits. It was though the area was gradually losing energy – its inhabitants seemed to be losing the will to live. Every alley he leapt over seemed to house an invalid – each one fighting to draw breath, the air whistling in and our of damaged lungs like wind through hollow reeds.

Though the desperate and the needy still roamed the streets, scraping survival from whatever means they could find, their numbers seemed depleted. He wondered if his mind was playing tricks. Was he developing a hero complex, looking for a problem so he would have someone to save?

He shrugged the thought aside, even as he acknowledged it. He wasn't a hero, he was a pragmatist. His concern lay only with the golden-eyed girl. Raven had risked so much to help him save her, the least he could do was insure her welfare.

X's mind drifted once again the sorceress, and this time he didn't fight it. She fascinated him – of all the Titans she was the one he could not understand. It was not that he failed to comprehend her reasons for fighting, or why she retained such a tight control on her emotions. Rather it was because, he could not grasp why of all the Titans she was the only one he knew would never betray him to Robin.

Perching on the side of a rooftop, X let one leg dangle over the edge. Raven was loyal to the Titans - he knew that. But at the same time, he believed her loyal to him – or at least, honourable enough not to betray his location. But why? He had done nothing to earn her trust, had certainly not asked for it. And for all it could be a useful tool – he would not abuse it.

That thought annoyed him. It was unlike him not to use every weapon at his disposal, and the trust of a Titan could easily be considered such, but he knew he could never use the gothic hero in such a manner. He wanted to attribute his behaviour to lust. But he couldn't, not this time around. Confused and frustrated, X teleported away.

As the moon slid from behind the cover of cloud, only eyes the colour of liquid gold were open to see it. Idly, their owner gently ran her hand over the soft brown curls of the beds other occupant. Wrapping her arms more securely around the child, who looked so much like her father, she hummed a soft lullaby beneath her breath. Frowning, she noticed a small bruise on the child's arm – probably sustained when playing. Raising a hand she touched one gold glowing finger to the bruise watching as it shrank and faded. Placing a soft kiss to the child's curls, the young mother drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Apologies for the long update and for any spelling/grammatical errors that may have occurred. As of October I will no longer be able to write (or at least I will only be able to write during the holidays) and so I will try to finish this fic before then. As always thank you for reading and any reviews or criticisms would be appreciated.