OMG. It feels like I haven't updated in like a century… O.o

Sorry, guys! I feel rotten for leaving you all hanging. Heh, at least last chapter wasn't one of my nasty cliff-hangers…

Why haven't I updated? Well, the most prominent reason is that I was busy. I was in Disneyland Paris and then my co-writer Narroch was over here in Britain with me and then I was over in the USA with Narroch (yes, we were actually on the same side of the globe for once! It was awesome!) and we were busy trawling around London, seeing Avenue Q and The Lion King on the West End, and getting free chocolate at Cadbury World; and then in the US we were busy getting several Oreo MacFlurries, none of which I ever actually finished, and seeing Weird Al Yankovic live in concert (!) and going to anime and comic conventions and watching Death Note…

Wow. It was epic. And a lot of fun. And I became addicted to Big K grape soda. :)

Oh, and if you're ever on Facebook or whatever and you see snaps of cosplayers from the 2007 Wizard World Chicago Comic Con thing, and you come across two girls in "sexy no jutsu" Robin costumes… that's us:D There were people taking pictures of us left, right and centre – it was crazy…

Anyway. That was that. Then I came home and got my A Level grades and since they were pretty good (AAB) I got into Birmingham University to do English. Yay for me. So I'll be going there in… October, or something. I dunno. I have officially left Whitchurch High School. I'm sad - I actually liked it. :( Except the vending machines. They were not my friends. All I wanted was a normal Coca-Cola, but nooooooo. All they had was Coke Zero. WTF? AND it wouldn't give me my money back after I decided I didn't want Coke Zero...

And then… I dunno. I just didn't update. I actually got back from the US like two weeks ago, so there goes that excuse… I kept procrastinating, like "Oh, I'll do it tomorrow", and then I never did…

Go figure.

Oh, and I strayed into the Death Note section, but that's another story entirely… We stayed up all night to watch that thing after getting back from the anime con and I think it must have affected my brain or something… Or maybe that was just the sugar-high marshmallow-filled cereal at 4:30am…

It was great, though. Death Note, I mean.

And the cereal, too.

Take The Long Way Home

Robin took another deep shaky breath and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the cold wall on which was painted the Virgin Mary. He was sitting on the cold stone floor of the altar, shivering, his leather outfit becoming increasingly uncomfortable as it slowly dried, tightening and creasing the way that wet leather does. The church was itself was silent and dark; outside, the storm raged on, torrential rain lashing against the partially boarded-up stained-glass windows and the rumble of the thunder (following the lightning that lit up the whole church) echoing right through the empty stone room.

He sat with his knees clutched to his chest, his feet flat on the floor; he could smell sweat and wet leather and blood on himself. The rain had washed a lot of the blood away but it was still there, matted in his wet hair – which was flat and bedraggled from the weather – and there were still splashes splattered down his front and on his face and hands.

The thought of it mingled with the perfume of sweat and blood and leather made him feel sick.

He gave a sad, weary little groan and buried his face in his knees. He had never felt so torn up inside. Even the night on which his parents had fallen to their deaths hadn't left him so wrung out.

Because he hadn't killed them.

He was a murderer. Yes, it had been Slade. Yes, Slade had done terrible things. Yes, the only way to end it had been to kill him.

But murder was murder.

He didn't know how Terra could live with herself…

"Robin? Are you trying to give yourself pneumonia?"

He looked up sharply at the familiar sound of Raven's droll voice; she was standing over him, perfectly healed and perfectly awake.

"You're up?"

"Obviously." She looked down at him worriedly, her face shadowed by her hood. She watched him look at her swollen stomach and then quickly look away again with a small shudder. "You don't look very good."

"I'm not."

Raven knelt with some difficulty; she overbalanced due to her stomach and he caught her, pushing her upright again. She settled back and pulled down her crimson hood, her violet eyes wide with concern.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked her, veering away from her questioning of "What's wrong?" before she could even ask it.

"Yes. Well…" She looked down at her swollen abdomen in disgust. "… As well as can be expected, considering the… circumstances… I healed myself completely, if that's what you mean."

He nodded distractedly, not looking at her.

Her amethyst eyes narrowed. She knew nothing else of what had happened after Seth's defeat; and yet, she knew that other events had followed. Between her passing out in Wayne Enterprises and awaking here just a few moments ago, something had happened.

She could read auras; and she had her suspicions. But she wanted Robin to tell her himself.

"Well, I'll play my hand first," she ventured quietly. "Seth Elliott is gone, and I take the blame for his death. You were barely awake, Robin… but I destroyed him. He's gone, and believe me, he's never coming back…"

Robin nodded jerkily in affirmation.

"Well, I expect he explained everything to you," Raven pressed on, attempting to draw him out from his self-piteous state. "Everything he did; that the "prophecy" was a set-up, a cover-up for a real prophecy that was created to stop him from accessing the powers – his powers – sealed inside the Orb of Azarath by Azar. She put them there because he tried to take over Azarath with them over 700 years ago and ever since then he's been trying to get them back. He needed yours and Slade's souls for the ritual, so he fabricated another prophecy loosely based the real one to draw you both in and manipulate you. Slade stole the Orb of Azarath from Jump City Museum after Seth had it sent to Earth for that very purpose; he's a shape-shifter and appeared as a "seer" to Slade – the "seer" that Slade took all his orders from was really him, which is why Slade never actually ever managed to kill you. As Head Senator Seth was able to control the movements of the Azarathian Senate, ensuring that they didn't interfere; when Jonathon Vaughan discovered his plan, Seth murdered him. Furthermore, Seth firstly had Slade rape you to make you an easy vessel for the demon minion which would carry his spawn; when the time was right he had Slade shoot that arrow into you, placing you under the possession. You developed wings, which was the cataclysm for my taking you to Azarath where he was able to put the rest of his plan into action. The demon deliberately controlled your hormones, we stupidly but uncontrollably slept together, I got pregnant with Seth's child… but we thought it was yours, which is logical. We were summoned by Slade to a warehouse in East Jump City, where we – or, I should say, you and the others – were killed. He saved me and revived you after setting everything up so you would attempt to use the Clock of Eternity to travel back in time to save the Titans from dying, but he had tampered with the clock beforehand, taking out one of the gears which I found and gave to you and then you traded it to him for the Blood Diamond, which is actually the key to the Orb of Azarath, which you smashed… You were brought to this time instead so that he could use you for the fulfilment of his prophecy. As things have turned out, his powers are now non-existent so no-one can use them, and Seth himself is way out of here… but we still have the little matter of both getting back to our own time and righting the past so that the Titans don't die; and dealing with Seth's child…"

"Life's a bitch and then you die," Robin muttered. "Like we didn't know that…"

"Shut up, Robin. I'll agree that both of our lives haven't been too fantastic of late, but you're starting to become a little too cynical even for my tastes…"

He looked away miserably.

"You have no idea what I've done…"

"I do have an idea, actually."

His head jerked up, his masked eyes wide.

"Wh-?"

"Robin, you have blood all over you. I'm not entirely stupid."

He looked away again sharply.

"I never said you were," he murmured. He shifted uncomfortably – Terra was right; this stuff was murder drying on you.

Raven watched him.

"Robin, you're really being stupid," she reasoned eventually. "Wearing wet leather isn't going to do you any favours."

"What, you want me to strip it off right this second?" He snapped in return.

Raven scowled.

"Not particularly, although, in theory, you should. You're going to make yourself ill." Her scowl deepened when he didn't so much as look at her. "At least take the jacket off. You're making me uncomfortable just looking at you."

"Fine!" He tugged the zip down aggressively and shrugged the jacket off with some difficulty. He threw it aside and curled up again. "There. You happy now, Raven?"

"I won't be happy until we've sorted everything out, Robin; and even then…"

Trigon's daughter looked down at her stomach again and gave a tiny shiver.

"Yeah?" Robin looked at her, his masked eyes narrowed and angry. "Well, here's the score, Ray; I'm a freakin' murderer."

He got up and walked away from her across the altar; he stopped at the broken table at which the priest would conventionally break the bread and bless it, presenting his back to her. She gazed long and hard at him, but he didn't turn around.

From the front he looked a wreck; his black hair was plastered to his face from the rain, his skin retained an orange stain from the blood that had almost-but-not-quite washed away, and overall he just looked weary and distressed. From the back – which was all she could see of him – he suddenly looked as though he should be on a male clothing poster. Exactly like that; from the back. He looked… different. Stronger. More confident. His outfit was, of course, entirely black; his black boots from his uniform, black leather pants (which were wet, and didn't look as though they had been particularly comfortable in the first place), black belt slung across his slender hips, black high-necked Lycra shirt and black leather gloves. His hair (ebony too), from the back, wasn't nearly so messy; it was just straight down, shining with its wetness.

She watched him pulling off the gloves, tugging at them quite a bit because they had begun to wrinkle through drying. She tried to get up but it was too much effort for her in her present condition, so she merely wrapped herself in her Soul Self and reappeared behind him a moment later.

"You're never going to get those pants off," she said flatly, watching him start in surprise at the nearness of her voice. He still didn't turn to her completely but he looked over his shoulder at her as he threw the gloves aside.

"Yeah? And how did Seth get you into that dress, huh?" He asked nastily, his gaze leaving her face and moving down to her stomach. "A crowbar?"

She shrugged amiably.

"No idea. I woke up in it. I would imagine he did it by magic." A wry little smile crossed her face. "You're probably right, actually. There's no physical way I would actually have managed to squeeze into this dress." Her smile faded again as she looked down and rubbed one hand gingerly across her abdomen. "I'm huge…"

She looked up at him; he was still looking over his shoulder at her.

"It has to go, Raven. No ifs or buts about it."

She looked at the floor.

"I know," she said softly. "It's just… hard…"

Robin finally turned to her, taking her elbows.

"You can't still want it," he said half-incredulously.

She nodded slightly, her gaze still on the floor.

"I know it's difficult for you to understand, Robin," she told him quietly. "For me to want to allow a demon's child to live. But I… my mother… I…"

"You're a demon's child. I know."

Her head jerked up and he was surprised at how frightened she suddenly looked.

"How do you…? Who told-"

"Seth. He told us that you're the daughter of a demon named Trigon. I thought-"

Raven slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him; remembering half-afraid flashes that he once bore her warning marks, the Mark of Scath…

Surely he couldn't have taken some of her memories too; or was he really only going on Seth's words?

"Robin, you know things that you shouldn't," she hissed leaning right into him. "You know things that no-one should know. So you can just keep your mouth shut, okay? Don't you ever tell anyone about my father, do you hear me?"

He nodded, still gagged by her hand, his eyes wide and shocked. She gazed hard at him for a few moments more; then released him and turned shakily away.

"I should have known Seth would have something to do with this," she whispered blackly, more to herself. "Those days when I was with him, before he came to this time to "end" it all… that was all he crowed about. The heritage of the baby – his child, my child, Trigon's grandchild…"

"The days you were with him?" Robin repeated suspiciously.

Raven nodded, her back still to him.

"When we "died"… well, I didn't. He placed a protection charm on me, so that the electrocution only knocked me out. I awoke in Azarath, dressed like this; he kept me in his quarters, which were completely sealed off by his magic. I couldn't get out by any means – either destroying it or using my Soul Self – and no-one but him could get in. So I was in Azarath the whole time and no-one ever knew. He did, of course, tell me all of his plans as soon as I was in a fit state to listen. I knew he was going to go to the future and knew what he would do when he got there because he told me; and likewise I knew that "prophecy" was a fake, just as I knew that the child was his. He told me everything, Robin; and he just kept squawking the whole time about how powerful the baby was going to be, and he kept calling me his queen…"

"He didn't… did he?"

"What?" Raven's amethyst eyes widened as she caught on to what he was implying. "No, he never…he never touched me that respect. He treated me very well, actually, considering he was technically holding me hostage. He's always respected me, you know, Robin; because I am Trigon's daughter. Not for any other reason. And I think he was worried about hurting the baby if he was too rough with me so he didn't smack me around or anything…"

She gave a sudden little shudder.

"He kept taunting me, though," she whispered. "How Starfire and Beast Boy and Cyborg were dead; he kept describing how he was going to kill you… that you would be torn to pieces in the sacrificial portal… I was so scared for you… and I felt so desperate because I knew what was going to happen and I couldn't do anything about it…"

She turned back to him.

"Where do we go from here, Robin?" She looked down at her swollen stomach. "I wouldn't say we're exactly victorious…"

"We will be." He looked first at her, and then shifted his gaze to the floor. "But only… if you agree. To defeat Seth and his influence entirely… we must kill his child."

Raven was silent for a while.

"You know, I have to say that I'm not any more thrilled about the prospect of killing it than I was a few days ago when you suggested an abortion."

"Doesn't realising that it's Seth's change anything?" Robin asked incredulously.

"Robin… whether it's your baby or his—"

"It's his."

"Whatever. You have to remember that whoever the father is… I'm still its mother. Learning that it's Seth's may change your perspective, Robin, because you know it isn't yours; but no matter what, it's still my baby. And I may not be the ideal mother type, and yes, I know that the baby isn't going to be… human. I know it's going to be evil… But it's still my baby. You have to understand how that feels…"

"I can't, Raven. I admit that. I'm a boy; I'll never know what it feels like." He shivered, looking at her stomach; trying to imagine what it must feel like to have another life growing inside you. "And I can't say I envy you…"

"Me particularly, or females in general?"

"Both." He looked from her swollen stomach to his own completely flat one and shook his head; for the first time in his life extremely glad that he would never have to go through what she was. It was something he had never really thought about before, but suddenly he was extremely glad to be the Boy Wonder.

Then he remembered that kick to the crotch and realised wearily that he just couldn't win.

"Well, I suppose I couldn't expect you to know how this feels," Raven said softly, placing both hands on her stomach. "I'm disgusted by it; I hate being this way…"

"Pregnant?"

"Trust me, it sucks…"

"Like I said, I don't envy you at all."

"I wouldn't envy myself. It hurts, it's heavy and uncomfortable, and the feeling of it kicking just plain freaks me out…"

Robin imagined feeling something kicking him from inside his body and was extremely alarmed.

"And once again with the whole "not-envying-you" thing…"

"I know. And yet…" She rubbed a circle on her round stomach. "…I feel something else underneath the disgust. I don't really want the child, Robin; I can't imagine myself cuddling it and feeding it and rocking it to sleep. Even if it was normal I still think I would feel this rejection of maternal nature. And yet… I still feel an urge to protect it. Somewhere, deep within me, the thought of killing it makes me feel so… empty…"

"Raven…"

"I know, I know!" She snapped in distress. "I know we can't let it live, okay? But as you said, I am a demon's child too… and I should never have been allowed to live…"

"Then why do you?"

"Because my mother… was weak… She just couldn't kill me, and obviously neither could the Senate. Azar's way prohibits Azarathians from killing the weak and defenceless. Babies obviously fall into that category… And so I was allowed to live, when I should never have been given the chance…"

"Don't say that," Robin replied, irritated. "I'm glad they let you live…"

Raven gave a sad, rueful little smile, looking away.

"There may come a time when you revise that opinion, Robin," she whispered; he heard her speak but didn't catch the actual words.

"What?"

"Nothing." She absently rubbed at her stomach again. "The point is I live because those around me were too weak and compassionate to do what had to be done. We have to ask ourselves if we are going to make the same mistake."

Robin slipped the knife from the back of his belt and held it out to her. She shrank back from it, her expression alarmed.

"Where did you get that?" She demanded, her large violet eyes regarding it warily.

"I took it form Azarath," Robin admitted. "Brought it with me. Don't ask me why. But Marcus said this is the only thing that will kill Seth's child providing-"

"It'll kill me as well!" Raven snapped. "You realise that, don't you? Those knives were created to destroy any traces of demonic beings in living creatures. Whole demon, half demon, quarter demon, you name it… If you had had that thing stuck through you during your possession a few weeks back, you would have died."

"I know," Robin spat. "Marcus has already told me all the history… He said that we had to come up with a protection spell or something, something that would protect you from the blade but not the child…"

Raven clasped her hands together, resting her chin on them.

"You know, that might actually… but it would take one hell of a spell… nothing that I know off by heart…"

"Marcus said that it would be some kind of "ritual spell", whatever that is…"

"A method spell," Raven rephrased, not looking up. "We got the demon out of you using one of those. You have to follow a certain set of rules or instances before reciting the actual spell."

"Like…?"

"Like… maybe… I don't know, dancing naked around a tree five times and… setting fire to a branch before you recite the spell…"

"You think I'm dancing naked around a tree, you have another thing coming, Raven."

"It was just an example."

"Marcus suggested perhaps Wicca, or—"

"There is a lot of dancing naked around trees involved in Wicca; it's called "working skyclad"."

"Forget Wicca," Robin said hastily. "What do you suggest?"

"Azarathian magic, I suppose," Raven said vaguely. "We can find something in my books…"

Robin nodded, putting the end of the silver blade in his mouth absently.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to put knives in your mouth?" Raven asked him irritably.

He withdrew it, his expression droll.

"You're beginning to act like a mother. Snap out of it."

She sighed deeply.

"I'm trying… it's hard…"

"Look, I appreciate how difficult this is for you, Raven," he began, twirling the knife around his fingers. "And I really-"

"Will you put that away before you slice your fingers off!" Raven snapped. "That's a very dangerous knife, Robin. Stop fooling about with it."

He mimicked her with his hand as he slipped the knife back into one of the leather sheathes at the back of his belt. Infuriated, she felt it was time to bring him down again. Maybe out of cruelty; maybe just because she was pissed off with him.

She was also stressed by the recent developments in this entire equation; the thought of killing her unborn child was not a pleasant one, demon or not. She also wasn't back to her full strength and pregnancy – especially being this pregnant – wasn't exactly the greatest feeling in the world.

"So, spill it, Robin," she said, folding her arms just above her bump. "What are you all mopey about?"

As she had predicted, that soured him immediately.

"I thought you said you knew," he replied jerkily, turning away to give her another good view of his back.

"I said I had a pretty good idea." She felt guilty about bringing this subject up now; because she did have a pretty good idea. She could sense how distressed he was about it – how guilty he felt about what he had done. "But I don't know. I need you to tell me, Robin."

"What, you haven't read my mind by now?"

"I respect your privacy, Robin. I wouldn't intrude into your mind when I know that you don't want me to."

"Just to set the record, I don't want you in there right now."

"I figured that…"

"Well…" He leaned his head back and rubbed his face with both hands. "I… killed someone…"

"So did I. Seth, remember?"

"It's not the same…"

"Isn't it?" Raven unfolded her arms, her voice suddenly softening. "Murder is murder, Robin…"

"And murder is wrong."

"Not… not always… Not if… you're saving other lives by doing it…"

"They don't blame me," Robin said quietly. "They're… proud of me. For killing. Even Bruce… said it was a good thing…"

"Bruce?"

"The Bruce of this time. He said… I had saved the world…"

"Robin, you probably did…"

"This time is… ruined, Raven. I'm not sure if his death even matters anymore…"

He looked at his hands; as though he expected to see blood. There was nothing there, of course, although there was still blood on his discarded gloves. He rubbed them together anyway; and Raven was reminded of Lady Macbeth.

Scrubbing at blood that wasn't there.

"Well… do you blame me for destroying Seth?" She asked him. "If that's how you feel about killing…? Do you think I'm a murderer too?"

"No."

She cut in front of him, her gaze hard and defiant.

"And why not?" She challenged him. "I killed him, didn't I? Does that not make us both murderers?"

"You did a good thing…"

"And you didn't?"

"You don't know what I did!" Robin spat, pushing her aside. She smacked his hand away angrily.

"Don't push me!"

"Then leave me alone!"

He exhaled heavily and turned sharply away from her again, folding his arms. For a long while there was painful silence between them—

"Slade, okay? I killed him. The Slade of this time."

"I thought so."

Robin put his head in his hands.

"Then why are you torturing me like this?"

"Robin, I know coming to terms with the fact that you have killed someone isn't easy, no matter how much you despised him or what he did. You think I feel good about killing Seth? I grew up in Azarath under his rule as Head Senator; I liked him and I trusted him… and I had to kill him. You think that makes me happy?"

"You're so much better at dealing with things that go wrong," Robin sighed. "You just manage to take everything in your stride, Raven, no matter what happens. I can't do that. I'm not like you."

"I've been taught to manage my emotions," Raven replied softly. "That's the only reason, Robin."

"Must make things easier…"

She shrugged.

"Sometimes…"

"Well, I'm not like you. I can hide what I'm feeling, sure; but I can't shut my emotions off."

"I think I'm one of the few people who can."

"Then how can you possibly know how I feel?" Robin snapped. "They all say it's okay; that I did a good thing. But killing isn't okay, Raven; I've always been taught that it's wrong. By my parents, by Bruce… murder isn't okay… What I did… was wrong…"

"But the lesser of two evils."

He looked over his shoulder at her in puzzlement.

"Robin, do you truly believe you could have just let him go? After everything he's done to this world?"

"How do you-?"

"I know enough, believe me. Seth was gloating, of course. He found the destruction to this future world hilarious…"

Robin looked away again.

"At the time… it felt like killing him was the only way… the gun was in my hand and I… it seemed right…"

"It was right. Not only did you save this world from him… you saved him from himself…"

"What, by blowing his brains five square metres across the basement of Wayne Enterprises?" Robin asked sardonically.

"Robin, I saw him when Seth brought me to this future. The man wasn't all there. Killing him was probably a mercy…"

"That still doesn't make it right."

"Well, what are you going to do, huh?" Raven asked him mockingly. "Turn yourself in? Go looking for someone to punish you for an action the police would do anyway? Who is going to arrest you, Robin? There is no law enforcement here; Slade's destruction was his own undoing. He pulled the walls of society and law and order down and left himself cornered. There was only life or death for him; no prison, no punishment. He either ruled over everyone in a reign of tyranny, or he died. If you hadn't killed him, someone else would have. Roy, Terra, one of the gangsters… He was living on borrowed time. I hardly see what difference it makes."

"The difference is that I'm a murderer!"

"You're selfish, is what you are," Raven replied coldly. "You killed Slade; you've saved lives and you've gotten rid of the one thing that was holding this world down. Now, because of you, this time can hopefully flourish again. But you won't acknowledge that, will you? All you care about are your own feelings; you're too busy whining about how guilty you feel to realise that you've helped every single person in this city and every one beyond it. Killing him might not seem to you like it was the right thing to do; not the kind of thing a hero should do. But let me tell you, Robin… it's probably about the most heroic thing you've ever done…"

"I don't know why I'm even listening to this," Robin spat, throwing his arms up in disgust. He walked away from her, leaving the altar to stalk away down the broken filthy aisle of the church.

"Where are you going?" Raven called after him irritably.

"Away from you and your lectures!" He snapped back, making his way down to the back of the church.

He didn't see her eyes glow white. He didn't see her enshroud herself in her Soul Self and vanish from the altar.

He did see her reappear right in front of him, drawing her black shadow-like spectral self back.

"Will you leave me alone?" He hissed, swinging away from her and going back the way he had just come.

She snatched after him, catching his arm and pulling at him.

"Robin, this isn't-"

She interrupted herself with a sharp little cry as he tugged his arm out of her grip, causing her to lose her balance. She tripped on the hem of her dress, fell into him and dragged the both of them to the floor. By instinct, her first thought was to protect her bump, but as it happened she landed on top of Robin anyway; his poor bruised body breaking her fall.

Unfortunately, a broken piece of the stone floor – jutting upwards – broke the fall of his head; he cracked the back of his skull on it, practically being knocked unconscious.

"Are you okay?" Raven asked him worriedly, shifting her position on him so that the weight of her stomach didn't rest entirely on him. She felt as big as a bus and just as heavy, and knew that sprawling on top of him wasn't going to do his scrawny frame any favours.

He lifted his head with a groan, putting a hand to the back of his skull. It came back streaked with blood.

She watched him pale further (he was near-white anyway at the moment) at the sight of it. Not because he was squeamish – it was just that the last thing he wanted to see on his hands at the moment was blood…

She employed her Soul Self again, taking both of them into it; it drew back to place them on one of the partially-rotten wooden church benches. He slouched up against her, moaning, only half-conscious from that knock to the head. She knew that he was aching elsewhere from the fight with Slade that had preceded the madman's murder; although was, of course, hiding it.

Sitting down, she felt better – the weight of the baby made her feet and back ache when standing – and felt strong enough to try to heal him; placing two fingers at each of his temples, she closed her violet eyes and muttered her mantra, drawing the pain out of him into her and then dispelling it. There was more of it than she had first thought – bruising that she obviously couldn't see through his clothing – and she squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, feeling sweat bead on her forehead as she slowly but surely dragged the last of his injuries out of him, including the fresh one to the back of his head.

She removed her fingers and sat back from him with a gasp, wiping her forehead. Next to her, he straightened up, feeling much better.

At least physically.

"Do me a favour, Robin," Raven muttered, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "Stop getting the hell beaten out of you… Healing you takes a lot out of me…ealing hhhhhhhh"

"Does it hurt to heal people?"

"Yes!"

He looked at her, wide-eyed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked softly.

"Tell you what?"

"That it hurts" He snapped. "All this time, I've been letting you heal the team… and you never said a word. If I'd realised it hurt you to heal us I wouldn't have let you…"

"…Which is why I didn't tell you." She looked fiercely away from him, one hand on her stomach. "What did he do to you, anyway? Must have hurt like…"

"He kicked me real hard in the crotch."

She was both female and not exactly the most sympathetic person in the world; but even she winced in empathy.

"That must have hurt…"

"I couldn't even begin to describe it. But that's probably why it hurt so much to heal me. Hell if I know how much bruising he caused me down there…"

"It's gone. No long-term damage, so don't worry. You'll knock up more girls yet…"

"It's not mine."

"It's still your fault…"

"He put an indulgence demon in me!"

She had no argument for that short of muttering something at him in Azarathian. He ignored her, leaning back and folding his arms. For another long while there was silence between them.

"Are you going to be okay?" She asked him finally, looking at the cracked, filthy floor of the church.

He shrugged.

"I'll live…"

"You shouldn't bottle things up, Robin…"

"I bottle, seal and gift-wrap…"

"Uh-huh…" She turned her gaze on him. "You think it makes you a stronger person? Not letting anyone know how you feel? Not letting anyone know what you're thinking or doing?"

"It's better that way. At least you can't drag others down with you…"

"But you know it doesn't always work like that!" Raven snapped. "What about your plan to stop Slade, huh? Pretending to be Red X? Look where that got you! You only handed him more ammunition against you…"

"Yeah?" He asked venomously. "If you're talking about the apprentice thing, that was his plan all along…"

"But you helped him! By not telling us, you helped him, Robin! You said you didn't tell us that it was you under that mask to protect us. But when Slade figured that out, he only used it against you! He blackmailed you into working for him… by threatening us… "

"And who made you the expert, huh?" He demanded angrily. "You didn't even figure it out; Starfire did!"

"I knew it was you, Robin…"

He started at her with his mouth open, floored.

"Wh… h-how?"

Raven looked at him boredly.

"I can sense auras. Trust me, I knew it was you…"

Again he was speechless for a few moments.

"And you… didn't tell?"

"I didn't say a word and you know it."

"Why?"

"Because I trusted you. I knew it was for a good cause and I… I thought it was going to work too…" She looked away from his piercing gaze. "But believe me, if I'd known how badly it would backfire on you, I wouldn't have let you do it…"

"You'd have split on me?"

"If I had realised that Slade would not only figure it out but use it against you, yes," Raven said quietly. "You know, all we wanted to do was help you, but you take everything Slade-related so much to heart that there's no getting through to you. We had to accept being pushed away because we knew we wouldn't get any closer."

"Did you know about the probes he put inside you?"

"Don't be stupid," Raven said irritably. "Do you think we would have fought you if we had known?"

"Guess not…" He looked intently at the floor. "None of it matters, anyway…"

"I suppose not…" Raven sighed heavily. "But about the shooting-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Raven!"

"And there you go again!" Raven snapped in exasperation. "Robin, you can't keep isolating yourself like this…"

"You do," he pointed out sullenly.

"That's different," she argued wearily. "Believe me, Robin… you have no idea…"

"Then tell me!"

"I can't. You will know… you will, but I… I can't tell you…"

"Why not?"

"I… just can't…" She looked back at him, her eyes shining with tears she could not allow to fall. "Robin, I would tell you. I want to, and I trust you maybe more than anyone else… but I just can't… There are things about me, things in me… that no-one should ever see or know…"

She pulled her crimson hood up as though suddenly hiding from him.

"I hide my feelings… because I have to," she whispered. "But you don't. You're able to ask for the help you need… it pains me so much that you won't. Why suffer when there is no need for it? I don't understand you…"

"You'd rather be me?" He sounded incredulous.

"I would say yes, but I wouldn't wish my existence on anyone else," she murmured in reply. "If I was you, then you would have to be me… or someone would, anyway…"

"And what's so bad about that?" His gaze moved to her stomach; and then he averted it to the ceiling in disgust. "Apart from having to… carry that thing around inside you…"

"The word is "baby", Robin. Practice saying it."

"Baby my ass," he muttered darkly in response. "More like Spawn of Evil..."

"And if it was yours it would be Spawn of Arrogant Jerk," Raven replied cuttingly.

She was irritable anyway; pregnancy was a foul affliction, and Robin was often not the best remedy for a mood that was already dark. Sometimes he was an extremely deep, understanding and wise person; and sometimes he was really, like… not. Sometimes he was incredibly easy to talk to, and other times it felt – at least to her – like he was speaking another language to her. Sometimes he was extremely easy to get along with, and at others he was difficult to even deal with.

It wasn't because he was male and she was female. It wasn't because he was fully human and she was part-demon. It wasn't even because he had watched his parents fall to their deaths over eight years ago – something she could offer no comparison to.

It was because he was… well, Robin.

They were alike. Deep calls to deep, like calls to like, and dark calls to dark. Yes, they were alike—

But not so alike that she truly understood him.

Or vice versa.

"Don't mouth off about things that you don't understand, Robin," she told him quietly, clasping her hands together on her lap. "And believe me, you don't understand what you're talking about…"

"Then why can't you just tell me?"

"Just trust me." She looked up at him, her amethyst eyes piercing. "Like I trusted you."

He shook his head, showering a small sprinkling of water from his hair onto her.

"I can't just accept that," he told her, his tone determined. "What if I can-?"

"Help?" Raven cut him off with a wan smile. "You can't. Trust me on that too…"

"You could at least let me try."

"No. I couldn't. Will you just leave it, please?"

"Raven, we can't afford to keep hiding things from each other…"

"Then why are you?" Raven asked him coldly. "Robin, if you keep locking everything away – all of your past, everything you feel and need… you're going to destroy yourself… Like you said yourself, you aren't designed to shut off your emotions. Human being aren't."

He looked at the cracked floor, twisting his long fingers together.

"It's so much easier to keep quiet…"

"I know that." She finally pulled her hood down again. "I know it is, Robin. But silence doesn't get rid of pain; and there is so much pain already in the world. I don't understand why you willingly keep things to yourself when you have people around you who both love you and are willing to listen. There are so many people who would give anything for that and don't have it."

"Raven, if I want to listen to a "Be-grateful-for-what-you've-got" speech, there are plenty of other places I could go to hear it…"

"Well…" Raven sighed heavily. "Just tell me then. You don't have to go to counsellor or a therapist… Just tell me and then maybe you'll feel better."

"Doubt it."

"You won't know until you try…"

"Alright, fine!" He clenched his fists on his knees. "I killed him, okay? I got the gun and I shot him. Right in the chest, and his blood splattered right in my face, and then I ran outside and heaved my guts and still feel, even now, like I need to puke…"

"Why do you feel like that? Because you're squeamish? Because you didn't like the sound of the gun?"

She baited him gently and subtly, drawing his inner anguish to the surface.

"BECAUSE IT WAS FUCKING WRONG, THAT'S WHY!" He screamed at her, standing up and whirling to face her, his fists clenched and his face tense and white. "Bruce… murder is bad… that's what Bruce always said… and his parents, and my parents… my parents were murdered…"

He sank back onto the bench, all of the venom in his voice drained out of it. He buried his face in his hands.

"My parents were murdered too…" he whispered again through his fingers. She saw a few tears drip through them and spatter on the cracked stone floor. "My… they'd… be so ashamed of me… I let them down…"

He burst into tears; those little sniffles becoming aching ragged sobs and wails of real anguish. Slightly alarmed at the reaction her gentle provocation had achieved, Raven reached for him, putting her arms around him. At her touch he leaned against her, burying his face in her shoulder and sobbing into her hood. She put one hand to his back and the other gently at the back of his head, toying with his strands of his damp black hair between her slender fingers, and just allowed him to cry and cry and cry.

She knew he didn't just cry for the "blood" that stained his hands; he cried for her – impregnated, as her own mother had been, with the child of a terrible being – and he cried for the Titans – stone cold dead as they were – and he cried for this future world and he cried for his parents and he cried for himself; for the rape and for the demonic possession and for the discovery of his role in Seth's prophecy; not in that important role – the Avenger – he had believed to be his, but merely as a vessel and a sacrifice…

She rocked him until the sobs began to ease away; she was, in truth, an individual of few words, and yet could somehow comfort without them. He felt glad to be in her arms, although not for sexual reasons, nor for personal ones.

Simply because she was Raven.

As much as he loved Starfire and her mad little ways, a mouthful of the Pudding of Sadness was not his idea of being comforted.

It was amusing to watch Beast Boy's reaction to having it forced down his throat, though.

His hysterical tears died away eventually; crying certainly worked wonders, particularly if you didn't cry very often, as he didn't. Well, he had perhaps been crying a lot recently, but it wasn't, he reasoned, like he didn't have anything to cry about…

"Feel better?" She asked him drolly.

He scowled.

"Don't tell me you're gonna hold this against me," he spat.

Raven smiled slightly.

"Hey, I need to gather all the ammunition I can get…"

"What, you have little files on all of us?"

"Something like that…"

"Beast Boy's is the thickest file, right? Metaphorical or otherwise?"

"Who else?" She muttered.

"Star?"

"Starfire doesn't deliberately annoy me; therefore, Beast Boy will always be at the top of my vendetta list…"

"Mm…" He turned his head and nuzzled against her shoulder, still leaning up against her; he wiped his face dry with his hand, feeling her pat the back of his head absently.

He was vaguely unnerved by how… motherly… she was being.

"Is that all you have to tell?" She asked him softly. "Nothing else you want to get off your chest?"

He shifted uncomfortably.

"No…"

He did, of course, have his secrets – and she knew and respected that, as did he in regards to her. There were things he wouldn't ever tell to anyone. He knew she knew that.

However… there was that one other… deep, dark, dirty little secret, wasn't there? Back then, in Arkham Asylum, preceding the rape, he and Slade had…

Seth. It had been Seth's doing – he had forced them to do it, controlling their will, all for his own amusement…

Somehow, he knew that she sensed this secret – for no, he had told no-one. He was so scared and ashamed and embarrassed about it. Admittedly… maybe he was a little bit of a homophobe…

…But between him and Slade on that horrific night, it hadn't really been true homosexuality, for neither of them had wanted to do it. Neither of them had even liked each other that way.

Knowing now that it had been Seth's doing didn't make it any easier. It didn't change the fact – willingly or not – that he and his most hated enemy (the man that he had killed in hot blood) had touched each other; removed their masks and kissed, stroked and nuzzled and fidgeted with clothing. He had run his fingers through Slade's hair as the man had, in return, slid his hand first up Robin's scarlet shirt onto his belly, then moved it downwards, brushing between his legs…

Robin burned now at the memory of Slade's hand slipping between his thighs. He grasped a handful of Raven's cloak and buried his face in it, knowing that his face was flushing crimson.

He hoped she wasn't reading his mind.

He had not become aroused by that touch, but still, being stroked between the legs by your (male) enemy was being stroked between the legs by your (male) enemy. There were no two ways about it; no other way of looking at it.

It had haunted him ever since he had regained his senses and kicked Slade off him. He had known, right from the start, that something had been controlling the both of them (that something being Seth), and while that alone had terrified him, the action itself just plain freaked him out. Sometimes the memory of it would slither utterly unwelcome into his head when his mind was just happily wandering; perhaps when he sat down on the bench in the gym for a breather and a drink following a rigorous martial arts workout, or when he was reading and his eyes began to become tired and would stray from the page. It would slide in through the cracks in his denial and settle there, and he would shiver and gasp and try to force it from his head.

He would remember that touch and be disgusted by himself; perhaps sitting on the bench, he would look down at his own crotch and remember that Slade had touched it through that same spangly green material and would want to get up and walk out of his own body. It made him feel so filthy and used to remember it; as though he was a whore that stood on those notorious street corners and beckoned wryly, flirting with his eyes, to the men with pockets stuffed with crisp green bills.

The rape haunted him in other ways. At least he had fought; kicked and cried and screamed and cursed. Slade had raped him anyway, drawing blood and shrieks of agony from the boy held down beneath him.

But Robin had not agreed to it. He had not returned it.

Making out with someone and being raped by them were two completely different things.

It snaked its way into his dreams too; little glimpses. They were not wet dreams, for they did not pleasure him. He would snap awake, gasping and panting, clutching at his sheets in utter panic. They frightened him as much as his dreams of rape and becoming like Slade did…

"Robin?"

Raven's level voice cut into his thoughts. He shivered a little.

"What?"

"I know… there's something you've been… keeping from us… I haven't pried, by the way. I don't know what it is, I have just sensed a burdening secret about you for a while now. Something to do with… what he did to you…"

He squirmed in her grip, squeezing his eyes shut.

"It's nothing…"

"If it's nothing, why have you been having nightmares about it?"

His head jerked up, his eyes snapping open.

"You do know!" He said angrily, flushing red again.

"I don't. I don't know what happened, or what you dream about. I just know that it haunts you and keeps you awake…" Raven frowned at the disgusted look he was giving her. "My powers are empathic, Robin; I can sense these things, even though I may not understand them…"

He dipped his head again.

"Believe me, talking about it isn't going to help…" he muttered miserably.

"So…" With a wry smile he didn't see, she moved into the opening. "It… is kinda a big thing, if even talking about it isn't going to help…"

He sighed deeply, walking into the trap.

"You could say that…"

"I thought it was nothing?"

He gave a sharp, tiny gasp; then looked up at her, thoroughly irked.

"You disgust me," he deadpanned.

Her wry smile deepened.

"Looks aren't everything…"

He blinked; then wrinkled his nose.

"You're acting really weird, you know that?"

"It's called being pregnant." She stroked his hair soothingly. "Are you going to tell me?"

"No," he said fiercely. "It's nothing, okay? Nothing I can't handle…"

"Alright, alright, I'm not going to push," she sighed. "Maybe I can drug you up or something…"

"Seth's already pulled that one on me…"

"Believe me, he's not going to be drugging anyone up where I have sent him…"

Robin gave a yawn, growing suddenly extremely tired. He snuggled against her; again, the action was not sexual. He just felt extremely comforted by her presence, and in this rare sensitive mood she was just the cure he needed. Perhaps it was the fact that she was pregnant, but she suddenly seemed extremely maternal – she was suddenly a lot softer physically, too. The Raven he was used to (and of course he knew how she felt, having slept with her twice and making out with her more than that…) was little, lithe and firm to the touch; she was just generally not quite as curvy as Starfire and therefore her body was flatter, harder, more angular. Her breasts were smaller and her hips were flatter – she was still shapely enough, but it was not as prominent as Starfire, who simply oozed stereotypical sex appeal.

However, pregnancy – and as horrific and monstrous a pregnancy it was – appeared to have blossomed her; no more was she that haggard, gaunt spectacle of only a few days before. Because the pregnancy was progressing at an absolutely alarming rate, its effect on her was too; "Raven" and "radiant" were two words never normally associated with one another, but it was true that she had flowered because of it. Her eyes were brighter, her icy-pale skin seemed to glow and she had even put on a little bit of weight in all the right places so that her figure was suddenly much fuller.

Her swollen stomach creeped him out, but other than that he had to admit that this was probably the most beautiful he had ever seen her. And seeing how she was not usually a cuddly person (she hated to be hugged) he decided he might as well take advantage of how sweet she was being.

No doubt by the morning she would have soured up again; her hormones were racing up and down within her like a yo-yo. So he curled his legs up on the bench and wriggled to get more comfortable. The pants were beginning to get extremely tight and uncomfortable but relieving himself of them would mean leaving to go take them off, putting on his spandex ones and then coming back, by which time the mood would have been spoiled.

One hand was still at his lower back, the other behind his head, and he gave a little sigh. It wasn't really a happy one, nor was it contented; but it was comforted. He lay there, lost in thought, his head on her shoulder against her neck, using the bunched material of her crimson cloak as a pillow. His stomach was pressed against the large curve of hers and with distant discomfort he realised that he could feel signs of life against his own belly because of the contact. He felt the little jerk of a tiny kick, or the flexing and stretching of the little (monstrous, foul, demonic, he reminded himself) body within her.

He shivered and looked up at her. She was drowsing too, her amethyst eyes nearly closed and her head against the back of the bench. Her violet hair shone brilliantly in the dull flickering light of the candles lighting up the church.

"Do you feel that?" He asked her quietly.

"Of course." She raised her head, opening her eyes. "Why, can you?"

"Mm. I'm sorry, I'm pressed right up against you… Do you want to me to move away? I know you like your personal space and everything…"

"It's alright," she replied softly. "Just for tonight, I don't mind. But don't get used to it…"

"Doesn't it freak you out?" Robin pressed, ignoring her last shoot-down; feeling another kick. "It's freaking me out and it's not even inside me."

"It is a bit freaky," she murmured in agreement. She rolled her eyes as she felt him shift distractedly so that his stomach wasn't against hers. "Will you quit that? You can go on the floor if you're going to be such a pest…"

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I just can't get my head around it… that there's a living thing inside you. It's a parasite!"

"Robin, welcome to the wonderful world of human reproduction. And as for it being a parasite… you were a "parasite" in your mother's body, as was I in mine, and so was Cyborg, and Beast Boy, and presumably Starfire, although I am not quite sure how Tamaraneans reproduce… I assume it is in a similar fashion to us. The point I am making is that if everyone had the same opinion as you, the human race would have died out long ago…"

"Maybe…" He sighed against her neck. "You… you don't still love me, do you?"

"Define "love"."

"As in the "desperate-to-unbuckle-my-belt-and-get-into-my-pants" sort of thing…"

"You may or may not be relieved to hear that… yes, it's true. I am no longer desperate to get into your pants."

He sensed the dry humour in her voice and frowned.

"I'm serious."

"I know. Robin… I do love you, of course I do. You're one of my best and… only friends…"

"You have more friends than just me!" He pointed out indignantly.

"Right, that would be Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire… that's three more. I have four friends in the whole wide world. That's not really very many, is it?"

"That isn't true…"

"It is, and you know it. I'm not the make-friends-with-everyone sort, Robin; not like Beast Boy and Starfire. And Terra is certainly not my friend. Never was, never will be. I am only friends with people I trust – and unfortunately I have found time and time again that I am only able to trust the same four people…" Raven heaved a deep sigh, running a hand across her belly. "I should not love, but I do. I love you, and I love our other friends. You maybe most of all because of all we have been through – if anything, Robin, I know I can trust you. We have… some kind of bond… But sexually… alright, listen up, because I am only going to say this once. I like you; I always have. From that first moment I saw you I knew there was something special about you, and I knew even then, before I had even said one word to you, that I would be able to trust you. I sense a darkness in you that is in me too; burdens and secrets that you may not share, pain that you hide. I was attracted to you because of that. You getting this? I did like you right from the start, alright?"

He nodded obediently.

"Okay, well, this is where it starts to go off the rails. Let's just say what I really am… disallows me to feel pleasure or love – they are emotions so intense and unbridled there was always the possibly that I would be unable to handle them and so I was forbidden from ever feeling them. Therefore… I never allowed any feelings I might have had for you to blossom. I couldn't. What had been an original liking became whittled down to a little speck of grit, and then I crushed that too. It pained me to do so, but I knew what had to be done, and so I crushed those feelings just as I had crushed any other loving feelings before it. And then Starfire… she obviously likes you, you know… Look how jealous she was when that Kitten girl showed up on the scene… And don't deny it, Robin; you have feelings for her too."

He shrugged and looked away.

"A little…"

"Don't feel guilty. Those feelings for Starfire… they are your own. You don't love me, Robin, at least not sexually – you never have. But Seth needed you to, to draw me out, get me to put my utmost trust in you… So he forced you to love me. Those times when you caught yourself thinking about Starfire; remember the time you kissed her, or that time you "betrayed" me and made out with her? Those were your feelings; those were the times Seth got sloppy and let his hold over you relinquish a little… As for me, I'm sure he told you that he was unable to control my mind. But he has a Soul Self of his own, and so he told me that he used it to cloak himself to wander around the Tower. He put things into my tea and my food – potions, powders, spells. All this time I have really and truly lusted after you, Robin… I have been drugged up…" She gave a little shiver. "I should have asked what he gave me that night we…" Another shudder; remembering that she had actually put his… in her mouth and… sucked and licked… "Actually, maybe I don't want to know…"

"I'm sorry… you know, about… what happened…"

She snorted.

"It's not like it was your fault… I was drugged with Azar-knows-what, you were not only possessed by an indulgence demon, but you're also a teenaged boy with an unfair amount of horniness anyway, and he was forcing you to love me… I don't think it was possible for anyone to have refused in that state…"

"I know, but…" He sighed deeply. "It wasn't just once, it was twice… and I took your virginity too…"

"I took yours."

"It's not the same. It matters more to girls than boys. It doesn't bother me that you took mine, but I'm sorry I took yours."

"That doesn't make any sense…"

"I thought you would have wanted to lose it to someone you love. Properly, I mean. Like maybe the guy you'll marry or something…"

She gave a snort of uncharacteristic laughter.

"Not going to happen…" She gave him another little pat on the head. "Besides, as I said… I do love you. It might be more platonic now than anything, given that Seth's control has worn off with his death, but… I am glad… that it was you."

He looked up.

"Really?"

"Really. Both of those times, and all the times we kissed, made out in your room, my room, assorted closets… they might have been fabricated and fake. But for what it's worth… I enjoyed them. In your arms and under your lips, I felt… different. More. You made me feel… special… and loved – two things I had never had in Azarath. Growing up in Azarath, although it is a beautiful place and I had my acquaintances, like Jonathon and Marcus… I was always made to feel like the outcast. The freak; because they are secretly afraid of me, every last one of them. I was never truly loved, not even by my own mother, because they did not want to encourage me to return those feelings. I was treated with the respect and kindness you saw when we were there the other week… but none of them love me, Robin. They have trained themselves not to. But you… you never made me feel like that. You always made me feel so… wanted." She stroked his hair affectionately. "Forgive me if I can only thank you for that. Seth might have been the one controlling your actions, but it was still your words, your kiss, your body that made me feel that way. So, yes, Robin – I do love you. More than I should, but less than I did. Does that make sense?"

"So…" He frowned. "Basically… you don't want to sleep with me?"

"Right. As for kissing… maybe under the mistletoe at Christmas if you're lucky, and don't get used to the hugging either…"

"I'm already mentally preparing myself for your usual wrath tomorrow…" He smiled, glad that that little matter had been cleared up. "I'll miss our closet make-out sessions. I never realised we had so many closets until we made it our mission to go in a different one every time…"

"I'm sure Starfire will oblige."

"Maybe. But I'm not just gonna pounce on her right away, Ray. Give me a little credit. I'm still shaken by what's happened between us this past fortnight, and don't forget you're still kinda… um, pregnant… First things first, you know?"

"Ever the practical one…"

"You know that's not true," he mused bitterly. "I tend to fly off the wall quite a bit, actually…"

"It's all in good jest…"

"Hmm…" He shifted again. "Like I said, you're acting really weird."

She shrugged lazily and drew up her crimson hood, putting that elusive shadow over her face. He saw her eyes shut and watched her, drowsy again himself; after a while his gaze dropped back to her stomach. He saw a few more tiny tics and jerks and eventually gingerly placed one hand on her abdomen to feel it properly.

What he received for his pains was an extremely hard kick that caught the heel of his hand, at which he snatched his hand back – it didn't hurt, because poor Raven's stomach acted as a barricade, but why did he get the feeling that it had been… deliberate? As though it was trying to kick him away…

Raven sat bolt upright with a sharp little cry, then clutched at her stomach and doubled up.

"You okay?" Robin asked worriedly.

She straightened up with a weak little smile.

"Yeah… baby just kicked hard, that's all…"

"I know…" Robin took a deep breath. "I think… it was because of me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because it kicked when I put my hand on your stomach. I think it was trying to kick me, only… you were kinda in the way…"

She frowned, her expression enhanced further by the shadow of her hood.

"It would make sense. As Seth's child, it has probably retained his hatred of humans."

"It's a baby. How on earth could it possibly-?"

"As you keep reminding me, it's a demon baby. I would imagine it can sense what you are, especially at such close proximity."

"And it doesn't like me."

"It would appear that way."

"Great; it's not even born and it hates me…"

"There isn't actually any reason for it to like you…"

"It's a freakin' unborn baby! How can it have an opinion on anything?"

"Because it's Seth's."

He frowned; and again noticed that his brow seemed to fall comfortably into the expression with very little effort at all. He'd been frowning/scowling a lot recently, he admitted…

There were no more words after that; there was, for the moment, nothing more for either of them to say. She leaned her head back against the bench and he curled up against her, drawing a little of her cloak around himself to keep his arms warm. Her small hand slipped into his larger one, gripping it tightly, and he squeezed back. He felt the coolness of the ring he had forgotten she was wearing against his gloveless fingers, but was too tired to contemplate it. They fell asleep that way, curled up together on the cold hard bench, their hands interlocked, secrets strung between them.

Not the Avenger of a fake prophecy and the Gem of a real one.

Not murderers.

Not lovers.

Just team-mates.

Teen Titans.

Friends.

Wow, angst, angst, angst… Maybe they should have watched Titanic too, just for good measure…

Sooooo… yeah. Sorry about the emo-tastic chapter.

Although it was important to deal with all of these feelings, I think. So I wrote this chapter, and…

Hn. Okay, well, I promise I won't keep you waiting so long this time!

Oh, and… the story seems like it should be straightforward from this point. Mind, I say, should be…

Ooh! Andandand... Chanceless did a beautiful piece of artwork of Trigon-rune-possessed-demon-Robin from Black Magic. It's absolutely brilliant, and she pixelled all the runes, or so I hear... O.o I'll get a link up at some point but for now, you can just look her up on DA if you wanna see it. It's fab-U-lous! Thankyou muchly, Chanceless!

-RobinRocks xXx

P.S: I have a Death Note fic! Read it:)