And… yeah. I took ages to update again. Sorry.
Interesting fact: I am updating this from my room in Birmingham University! There's not much going on at the moment, just Fresher's Week, which is pretty boring… But lectures start next week and I have some bits and pieces to do before then, so… it's all good.
Anyway, since I recently realised that Remember the Titans has been going for almost a year and STILL isn't nearly over, mostly due to my slow, slow updates, let's get the hell on with this:
Thankyou to: LoopyLouise123 (yeah, the US of A was awesome, though it seems like soooooo long ago now… And yeah, RobinxRaven… some people are disappointed by its fizzling out, but it seemed sill to yeah have them proclaim undying love and whatnot; and even so, there's still some more fun to be had!) YamiTai (thanks for the hugs, dude! And yeah, I guess Robin was kind of cynical in that chapter…); Me (Avenue Q was fantastic – I much preferred it to The Lion King, even if that sounds bizarre. I actually didn't like The Lion King very much. I think I've seen the movie too often… And yeah, I don't say "anyways" because "anyways" is wrong…); Quinn and His Quill (no, I didn't know that, O One of Useless Facts… Hello from Birmingham, BTW!); Still Sketchin' (I think that Narroch certainly felt like murdering me at a few points, heh heh… Although we did a murder mystery party with my friends while she was over here and the killer actually turned out to be me…); DragonPrincess1988 (cool name, dude. 1988 was the year I was born! Glad you like the story too!); Chanceless (oh, Chanceless, my love… you deserved to be mentioned! And Author Idol, huh? Jeeeeez, Round Four sucks. I can't believe only seven people sent in an entry…); The Fate of an Amaryllis (wow, so many people have much better, non-fangirly pen-names than me… Though I see you changed your name again. You keep coming up with good ones… No, don't worry, no spells in this fic will involve Robin or any of the other Titans dancing naked around a tree… Not even Cyborg, who doesn't wear any clothes anyway…); Brendan Aurabolt (yet another superb pen-name! Um, yes, it is hard to swallow that Robin would just be all "Kill it! Kill it! KILL IT!" but… I mean, I kind of ran into a rut. This fic is so long and packs so much junk in that I eventually reached a point where I couldn't drag their procrastination out anymore, if that makes sense…); Someone (dude, Robin and Raven were together, but… eh, Seth had a lot to do with it. Anyway, don't give up just yet! There's still more fun to come!); Guardian of Azarath (yup yup, plenty of angst… Well, I mean, they're both murderers now, so to speak, so… yeah…); TheFallenAngel67 (and again, to you, don't completely lose hope with the Robin/Raven thing. Their relationship might not be real but that doesn't mean it's completely finished with, as you'll soon see! I mean, a lot has happened between them, and you can't just wipe that away, even if they don't truly love each other…); Simmie (whaaaaaaaat?! Your vending machine was filled up with fruit and vegetables? That is vile! And yeah, RobinxRaven disappointment again…).
Actually, let me just break out and say this to everyone: RobinxRaven. A lot of people seem disappointed by the fact that it all turned out to be a fake relationship forced on them both by Seth Elliott so that he could conquer the world, mwa ha ha, etc… I'm sorry, okay, because I feel like I've led you on a whole lot, and I know for a fact that this fic attracts RobinxRaven fans and not very many RobinxStarfire ones. But their relationship was always intended to be a fraud one, because while I like RobinxRaven and think they're good together, this fic isn't actually an epic romance story (it's not actually categorised as it, you'll notice). Most other fics seem to be romance with a plot weaved in – this fic is plot with romance weaved in. And the plot called for the obliteration of their "love", and so… out it went. That said, there is still more involving them and the baby to come, so please don't be put off.
And Narroch – review this time, you scum.
Déjá Vu
"What a picture…"
Terra's voice – tinged with a little poison – managed to permeate through the walls of his dreamless sleep. His eyes fluttered open behind his mask and he looked up; groaning as he moved his head and felt his neck crick and pop because of the strange half-sitting position (leaning against Raven on the wooden bench) he had been sleeping in. He put a hand to it and straightened his head, wincing at the cracking sound that accompanied it. Opening his eyes again, he found Terra and Roy leaning over him; Roy was still in his Arsenal uniform, a little wrinkled from where he had slept in it, although the mask and quiver of arrows was missing – the collar was also unbuttoned. Terra had changed her clothes from the night before; now she wore a short 50s-style black dress – pencil skirt to above the knee, square neckline, tiny cap sleeves and a thin ribbon tied with a bow just below her breasts. Her hair was in its usual flowing mane of gold, hiding her right eye from view, and she wore black calf-length pointed black boots on her feet, contradicting her dress somewhat, yet somehow also complimenting it.
Roy had one hand behind Terra, his hand resting on her hip.
They were both grinning.
"Well, don't you two look cute, all cosied up together like that?" Terra mocked, her grin widening.
Robin's eyes narrowed as he unwrapped himself from Raven's red cloak; she was still asleep, one hand at her swollen belly.
Her other hand was still clutched tightly with his.
He quickly and subtly disentangled it, not wanting to give the blonde earthmover any more ammunition against him. Terra had certainly matured in those fifteen years, and she was even a nicer person for it, but some things still remained the same. Relentless teasing, something taught to her courtesy of Beast Boy, was one of those things that had never left her.
"Right back at you," he muttered blackly, nodding at Roy's hand on Terra's hip, squeezing her close.
Terra only beamed in reply; the Reese Witherspoon smile again.
"Somebody's grumpy," Roy crooned, his blue eyes glittering. "What's the matter, Raven turn you down last night?"
"Shut up."
Robin was angry that Roy had assumed that, not because it was (partway) true. He and Raven hadn't… done… well, anything. Apart from sort of cuddling up, but that was a comfort thing… So they hadn't done anything; he hadn't slipped her out of that dress (or pried her out, as the case may have been, considering her physical condition…) and taken her a third time on the icy floor of the church, nor had it even crossed his mind. Likewise, she had not kissed him, whispering suggestive little secrets in his ear; nor had she fumbled with the zip of his wet (painfully drying) leather pants and drawn it down and invited him into her mouth once more…
It hadn't been on his mind. It hadn't been on her mind.
They did, of course, have much more important things to worry about than "getting it on"… and so Robin was highly insulted.
"You look equally disappointed," he replied smoothly. "Terra turn you down?"
Although Roy was still a little hurt by what had gone between him and Terra the night before, and although Robin had actually hit the nail on the head, he continued with his amiable grin.
"But of course," he said, as though incredulous. "The fair maiden wanted nothing of dashing Sir Roy's charm and prowess…"
"The "fair maiden" is standing right here," Terra reminded him coolly, indicating herself. "And FYI, "Dashing Sir Roy"… You bear those words of mine in mind…"
"Certainly will, m'lady," Roy agreed chirpily, saluting her. Terra batted him away irritably.
"Roy, please… We have more important things to attend to…?"
"Right." Roy grinned at Robin. "Your clock is fixed and ready to go."
Robin brightened considerably.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously?" Roy mimicked, waving his hands around in a mockingly-camp fashion. "Yes, seriously," he clarified, his tone normal again; grinning at the scowl he had received for his impersonation. "So you can get the hell off that bench and go back to where you came from whenever you're ready."
"I'd recommend breakfast first," Terra cut in, her gaze on Robin – it flickered to the sleeping Raven briefly, then went back to the Boy Wonder. "And perhaps struggling out of that leather…"
Robin nodded, swinging his legs over the bench and sitting up.
Terra and Roy burst out laughing at the expression on his face; the silent shriek of agony as the now-dry leather – creased, tightened and stiff – cut into his crotch and legs.
"Okaaay…" Robin grimaced, trying not to move anymore. "Ow…"
"Hate to say I told you so, but…" Terra started.
"Told ya so!" Roy finished blissfully.
Robin looked up at them, his gaze positively blazing. He stood up just to be defiant, gritting his teeth; why hadn't he listened to Terra and Roy and Raven? He had a permanent wedgie, it felt like there was a knife sticking into his crotch from the seaming and the pants were so tight on his legs he could barely move them.
"Your uniform is in the back room," Terra said mirthfully. She slapped him on the back. "Knock yourself out…"
Robin looked over his shoulder at her murderously.
"I despise you…"
Terra beamed.
TT
It was cold and dark in the back room, just as it had been those two previous mornings he had awoken here. He noticed that the bed Terra had made up for him was unsettled, implying that Roy had slept there in his stead, while he had been freezing on a hard bench out in the main church.
He also noticed – with a definite smirk – that the bedding was considerably further away from Terra's own than when he had been sleeping there. Terra obviously didn't trust Roy not to feel her up in her sleep.
Already back in his way more comfortable green spandex pants (he didn't ever want to discuss the process of getting that freaking leather off…), Robin gripped the bottom of his black high-necked shirt and pulled it off over his head and replaced it with his crimson "R" motif one; he buttoned it up, pulled on his gloves, and then pulled his cape on over his head too, straightening it out. He sat on the floor, taking all of the weapons from the black leather pouches on the too-big belt he had been wearing and putting them back into his yellow utility one. He briefly mourned the loss of his retractable staff, but it wasn't like he didn't have another one… He looked at the knife in distaste before slipping that in too, standing and clasping the whole belt back around his waist. Lastly he rooted through the leather jacket (discarded on the floor) and pulled out the Blood Diamond, threading it back around his neck. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, exactly; whether he should put it in the Evidence Room as a trophy, bury it in the yard, chuck it into the river, have Starfire incinerate it, have Raven take it back to Azarath for Marcus Vandiver to deal with, slip it into Cyborg's morning waffle stack, or give it to Beast Boy to sell on the internet.
Like a birdarang, it had so many potential purposes…
For now, he decided to just wear it.
He knew they were waiting for him back in the main church and didn't want to hold them up – Terra was making breakfast, Roy was making coffee, and he just didn't want to leave Raven at the peril of both of them. He could see it was an effort for Terra to be amiable towards her, and Roy was just… well, he didn't know her, for one thing, having never met her in person all those years ago. He had only ever heard the stories of her from Terra and Nightwing. He seemed rather fascinated by her, to be perfectly honest; he kept staring at her, partly in genuine interest – because he had finally gotten to meet the infamous Raven; the dark, brooding, antisocial member of the Teen Titans – and partly in a more perverted manner. As Robin had noticed last night, pregnancy had made Raven's figure a lot fuller and curvier, and Roy's gaze did seem to be mostly at the level of Raven's breasts…
He knew they weren't going to do anything to her, but she didn't seem entirely comfortable in their presence, where he was a lot more at ease with them, so he decided to get back quickly for her to take refuge behind. He knew her to be quite a shy person at the best of times, and Terra's presence did not help either.
He crossed the room, making for the door; only stopping when something small, square and white on the floor caught his sharp eye. He turned, noting that it was very near Terra's pillow.
He knew he shouldn't pry, but… the hell, he was a freaking detective…
Prying was what he did.
He went back and crouched down, picking it up. It was a little white square with a tiny amount of small but untidy writing in the corner.
Robin immediately recognised it as Beast Boy's scrawl; the green boy had a very distinctive hand, his print being very tiny and so untidy it was barely readable when he was rushing. It was readable now, though, as though Beast Boy – a Beast Boy dead fifteen years in this time – had written the message very carefully. It read;
You and me forever
BB
XXX
There was no date. Robin turned it over and saw that it was a photograph; a little one, bigger than a passport shot but smaller than a regular one. It was of Terra and Beast Boy, the changeling flashing "V for Victory" and Terra smiling a soft, serene, happy smile.
Was that a mask? This photograph had obviously been taken before Terra's betrayal; has she been standing there then, smiling so innocently, Beast Boy clutching at her like that, and been planning how to kill each and every one of them? Had she been running over the information she had gathered on them in her head?
Had she been contemplating and relishing the betrayal of her first, last and only friends even then?
Robin realised that it was a strange occurrence; he could look at this picture of the fifteen-year younger Terra and truly hate her for what she had done; for gaining their trust, for lying to them, for selling them out, for breaking Beast Boy's heart…
It was not as easy to hate the 31-year old version. Not as easy to hate a young woman who was truly sorry for her sins and had repented for them several times over. She had lost her first friends and her first and only love; she had been beaten, raped and abused repeatedly by the one person she had trusted – the man whom she had always thought would help her. She had murdered the Justice League, something she would never forgive herself for; she had been taken on by Batman's Titans, watched all of them die, one by one, and watched her world shatter again. She had brutally lost her baby, again to the man who had originally led her down the path of destruction she would probably never get all the way off again.
No, Robin could not hate the Terra who sat out there now in a broken church. He could not judge and despise her when she had already suffered and paid so much.
Looking at the photo, it became apparent to him that Terra must have really loved Beast Boy; he had been the only one she had attempted to save the night Titans Tower was stormed by Slade's army, and when checking the bodies only a few days ago in his own time, he had seen definite tears in her eyes when she came to the green changeling.
Her betrayal had cut Beast Boy up. He had moped about for days afterwards, while the others cleared everything up, in a similar state to Robin in the week following his rape in Arkham Asylum; listless, miserable, near-silent.
One night, Robin and Cyborg had been on their way down the corridor to the elevator to go downstairs for a late night coffee and team dynamics discussion (Robin in his pyjamas and irked at being awoken by Cyborg, who, after a little juice from his charger, was very much awake); the Boy Wonder remembered pausing outside Beast Boy's door to knock and ask if he wanted to join them.
His knock had been cut short because he had heard the sound of muffled sobbing. After a short debate about whether they should go see if he was okay, they decided it was best to leave him be.
When they had come back up an hour later, the crying had stopped.
Neither had commented that fifteen was too old to cry yourself to sleep. Truthfully, in the nights following the rape, Robin had sobbed under his covers until sleep claimed him; and sometimes, now and again, when the hormones kicked in and he was just feeling melancholy for no real reason, one little peek at the few photos of his parents he had was enough to set him off.
He would lie in the dark and remember things of eight and more years ago; his birthdays, the stories Mary Grayson had read to him from old books, the rides on John Grayson's strong shoulders, the way his mom had fussed him when he fell and scraped his knee, and the delight in the tiny black kitten they had once bought him (his time as a cat-owner had been short-lived – the kitten had supposedly "run away" within the week. Looking back on it, Robin realised that it had probably been run over by one of the circus trailers and the traumatic truth had been covered up the guise of "It, uh, ran away…". Truthfully, a circus was no place for a kitten unless it was performing tricks…).
He would wake up in the morning, his face sticky from the tears, and hiss angrily at himself, asserting that sixteen was too old for a boy – and the leader of a superhero team – to be crying himself to sleep.
He realised that Terra must sleep with the picture under her pillow, and so lifted it and slipped it back under.
And as he placed it back down, he realised that Terra's pillow was wet.
Perhaps sixteen wasn't too old to cry yourself to sleep after all.
"You guys ready for this?"
Roy set the Clock of Eternity down on the floor of the church and knelt back; the four of them were in a rough circle on the matted, filthy carpet of the altar.
Robin and Raven exchanged glances – Raven's obscured by the shadow of her hood – and then looked back at Terra and Roy, nodding.
"Yeah, it's cool, Roy," Robin replied confidently. "It definitely works now, right?"
"Hey!" Roy was insulted. "Of course it works! I tested it out myself. Went back five minutes this morning – you guys were all still asleep. I got to watch Terra do the same sexy little writhe in her sleep twice…"
Terra smacked him across the back of the head.
"Pervert," she muttered darkly.
Roy grinned.
"You say it's only platonic, T, but we all know you're in denial…"
Robin flashed an apologetic little smile at Raven, who didn't look very impressed by their banter.
"Well, I'm not too well-versed on time travel," Roy addressed Robin, all business again, "but I think you can forget conventional ideas of the future being affected by what you do…"
"So…?" Robin gestured with his hands, indicating "more information".
"So I don't think this time is going to be affected. I mean, I don't think there will be a sudden hitch in the space-time continuum, whereby the Teen Titans, for example, will suddenly be alive in this world. I don't think it works like that, because the Titans weren't alive, and therefore they can't suddenly be alive with pasts and everything, if you get what I mean…"
Robin nodded.
"Right, like say… Starfire couldn't suddenly be alive in this time, not when she's been dead for fifteen years. She'd have, like, a massive gap of fifteen years in her life…"
Roy nodded.
"I think this time will stay exactly the same. However… this isn't the time you're worrying about. The damage here has already been done… Terra, Bruce, Lex and I are the ones left to pick up the pieces. Things will get better from here, though. I know that…"
Terra nodded, a little smile on her face.
"The consequences of everything that happened fifteen years ago have already been reaped," she said softly. "Roy's right, nothing can be done here but rebuild what has been shattered. But you can change your present, Robin, and that's what matters. Don't let history repeat itself…"
"For those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," Roy added ominously. He grinned. "George Santayana."
"Who?" Robin quirked an eyebrow; both in genuine puzzlement, and also in surprise that Roy would know such an obscure thing.
"George Santayana. An American philosopher. Some people would have you believe that's a British saying, but nooooo…"
"Well." Terra folded her arms. "That was both interesting and helpful. Thankyou, Professor Harper."
Roy pulled a hideous face at her, pulling his handsome features out of shape with his fingers very much in the same way Beast Boy did whenever he saw a camera. Terra pulled one right back at him – another skill she appeared not to have lost.
Raven rolled her eyes, tapping her fingers on her swollen stomach, and Robin waved his hand in the air as though in a classroom; he gave a little bird-like whistle to get their attention.
"Uh, hello? Guys? We have our time-zone to save from the perils of Slade?"
"Uh, right, yeah…" Roy spoke up as he and Terra composed themselves. "Well, you know how to work it…"
"…And you know what to do," Terra finished. She clenched her fists. "Stop him, Robin. Stop Slade, and stop me. Destroy my younger self if you have to; do what you must, but don't let it come to this. Don't let history repeat itself, like I said."
She smiled at him and offered her hand to him.
"Promise me that. Promise you'll save the past. That you'll save the Titans, that you'll save…"
"Beast Boy," Raven put in quietly. Terra's gaze flickered to Raven briefly before moving back to Robin.
He reached across and clasped her hand with his; and wasn't surprised when she pulled him into a tight hug.
"I know you can do it," she whispered in his ear. "You always were a hero…"
Robin pulled back from her with a smile, and received a punch on the shoulder from Roy.
"Keep it real, kid, and be safe," he said. He bumped fists with Robin in the same way the Boy Wonder often did with Cyborg. "And most importantly, do what she said," Roy went on, thumbing at Terra. "Save the goddamn world."
"Will do, Roy," Robin replied with a grin.
He knelt back and offered Raven his hand to take – they would need to be touching for the Clock of Eternity to take them both back. She took it, gripping his fingers tightly, even possessively. Even through his glove he could feel the ring on her finger – he kept forgetting about it. He would look into that later.
For now, it was true; the Teen Titans had the world to save.
And to do that, he and Raven had to save the Teen Titans.
He knew that Roy had already set the clock back to exactly the right numbers to throw them back fifteen years, so positioned his hand on the button on the top of the clock, and Raven placed hers on top of his; he gave her other hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Ready?"
She nodded.
Robin looked up at Terra and Roy again.
"Look, just… thankyou. Both of you, for your help and for your hospitality. I couldn't have done it without you…"
Roy grinned.
"Oh, we know that…"
"Well, just so you know…" Robin nodded to Raven as the second hand hit XII and together they slammed down on the button. "…You guys turned out alright…"
The space-time vortex opened like a rift in the cold air of the church.
"Just remember," Terra whispered, as Robin, Raven and the clock began to fade into it, "that nothing is written in stone…"
And then they were gone; Robin and Raven, still gripping hands, fell through a timeless black oblivion, Robin clutching the clock to his chest. The force against them was strong, stronger even than Robin remembered it being on the way to the future, and he felt Raven's hand slipping out of his. He strived to hold onto her but she was inevitably torn from his grip.
She screamed his name and was lost in darkness; his own cry of her name was lost too, and then—
Robin hit concrete, flat on his back, smacking his head; the pain of a feeling that was familiar to him aroused him from near-unconsciousness. Really and truly, you hit your head far too much in this profession. It was a wonder he wasn't brain-damaged…
He felt the hard cold presence of the Clock of Eternity against his ribcage and opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a tentacle that looked suspiciously as though it belonged to Plasmus coming right at his face.
Alarmed, he rolled to the side just in time – the slimy tentacle smashed into the concrete where he had just been lying, cracking it. Tucking the clock under his arm, he slowly stood, rubbing the back of his aching head; looking up he saw that yes indeed, Plasmus was towering over him, although it was contending with Starfire rather than him – the alien girl was flitting around it at remarkable speed, firing starbolts in rapid merciless succession at it.
Nice work, Roy, he griped. Throw us right into the middle of the fray… Don't give me any time to figure out how to not die…
He looked around for Raven; she was, once again, contending single-handedly with Overload. Back in her purple cloak and cast-offs of his, he wondered briefly if something had gone wrong, because she was no longer in that red dress.
But then he caught the tiny glitter of the ring on her finger and was reassured. She hadn't been wearing the ring originally – but then, why had the ring come with her back to this time, but not the dress?
His deductive thought-chain was interrupted when yet another of those accursed tentacles smacked him right in the stomach, throwing him backwards. He was more worried about the clock (it was stolen property, after all) but didn't even have to worry about himself, as Cyborg caught him and set him upright again.
"Thanks, Cy," he breathed, turning to his friend. Cyborg grinned and Robin felt something weird well up inside him – not quite joy, or love, or whatever, but it was something.
Cyborg had been dead. But the clock had worked (finally) and now he wasn't. He was alive and fighting, and Robin had never been so happy to see him.
"Hey, we're a team," the half-robot reminded him happily. "That's what we do; save each other's butts."
"Well, in that case, save mine!" Beast Boy yelled as he ran past them, Cinderblock hot on his tail.
That feeling rose again as Robin saw Beast Boy alive and… yelling… as usual.
He felt the back of his belt, his fingers trailing over the knife, and found what he was looking for.
Being thrown back in time had restored his staff. With a grin he pulled it out and twirled it rapidly before clutching it tightly and sliding into a low battle stance.
"You look… strangely happy about all of this…" Cyborg acknowledged warily, firing up his cannon.
"Just glad to be part of the team."
"Riiiiight… Well, come and be part of the team over here!" Cyborg yelled, charging after Cinderblock and Beast Boy.
Robin remembered this. He and Cyborg had beaten Cinderblock off Beast Boy and then the three of them had started on Plasmus – meanwhile, Robin had seen Raven in trouble and had sent Starfire over to help her.
Not this time.
Time to pay attention to the words of George Santayana and start rewriting history…
He found a safe place for the Clock of Eternity behinds a stack of crates, and then darted full pelt across the warehouse towards where Raven was struggling, staff in hand and a maniacal grin on his usually angelic face. As he neared the small fray he heard her sharp cry of surprise and pain as she was knocked out of the air by Overload. His grin faded as he launched himself forwards, straining to catch her. He scraped along on his knees, bracing himself for her weight; she landed in his arms, the impact and her weight combined – being so heavily pregnant – dragging him to the floor, but at least he had broken her fall. The most she would get now would be a bruised backside, which would be the least of her worries.
He bit his lip; his knees were agony. He didn't dare look at them, knowing that both the material and the skin were torn.
"Ugh… you okay?" He asked her, a moan present in his voice as he knelt up.
His heart almost stopped when she threw her arms around his neck.
"You saved me!" She squealed, sounding…
…really, really, REALLY not like Raven.
At all.
She removed her arms and sat back, looking up at him in utter adoration, as though she thought he was some kind of movie star, or even a god.
His mouth dropped open and she giggled wildly at his comical expression.
He could only stare at her – he was about to remove his glove and put a hand to her forehead to see if she was burning up, but the roar and familiar ever-present crackle of Overload cut his intentions short. He looked up and his eyes widened further when he saw that Overload had brought his "arms" back and was about to bring them down over Raven's head – she hadn't noticed, she was so busy fluttering her eyelashes at her "saviour".
Robin sprang to his feet, grabbing Raven's hand and physically hauling her with him.
She giggled again, falling up against him – her weight almost knocked him over again.
"Ooh, you like to play rough…" she murmured, clutching at him. He pushed her off and grabbed her wrist, dragging her with him as he broke into a frantic run. Just behind them there was an almighty smashing sound as Overload pounded with all of his strength into the floor where they had been only a few seconds before.
"He almost hit us!" Raven said, still running with him; she sounded shocked.
"He'll do a lot more than that if you don't keep running," Robin spat back at her. He retracted his staff and shoved it back into his belt as he ran – instead pulling out an ice disk, followed by an explosive one.
He scraped to a halt and whipped around, pushing Raven down and holding her against him so that he could fling the first of the disks over her head at Overload, who was giving chase. It exploded on impact, releasing an ice-white cloud which hissed in a brittle-sounding fashion. It engulfed Overload, and when it cleared the electric villain was frozen solid.
Robin knew it wouldn't last long… unless he remedied it. The explosive disk followed the ice one, discharging as it hit the Overload-popsicle, shattering it to thousands of icy shards. The smoke cleared, revealing chunks of iced villain everywhere; the circuitboard came skidding across the concrete floor, landing a few inches shy of Robin's boot. No real damage done, to be honest – Overload would reform from this single little circuitboard when he recharged his energy. However, icing him up had well and truly shorted him out for the time being – he wouldn't be electrocuting anyone today, that was for sure.
A bubble of pride expanded in the Boy Wonder – he had gotten rid of the primary threat all by himself. He had saved the Teen Titans and changed history all by himself, within the space of five minutes.
This bubble was immediately pricked and popped by the sound of Raven's voice. Or rather, it didn't sound like Raven's voice anymore; it had too much emotion, it was too innocent, the tone was more like Starfire's than Raven's familiar bored, sarcastic jaded manner.
"Yay, you saved us from the mean electric man!" She cried happily, clapping her hands together the way…
…Starfire did.
Robin looked across at Cinderblock and Plasmus; Cinderblock was already out for the count and Plasmus was well and truly on the ropes by the assault Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy were launching on him.
He knew Plasmus didn't stand a chance against them, so used the little time he knew the fight would buy him and pulled Raven with him across the warehouse towards the stacks of crates he had hidden from Terra behind in the… other present. They too had been reformed with the time-shift; he remembered Terra smashing them. He shoved Raven behind the stacks and followed her, the shadows of the boxes and the wall enshrouding them both in darkness.
He needed to interrogate her. She was acting bizarrely, to put it mildly…
"Hey, it's dark," Raven acknowledged with a little giggle. She turned to him, a wicked little smirk on her features. "Ooh, are we gonna make out?"
He grabbed hold of her wrist.
"No, we are not going to make out!" He hissed angrily. "And keep your voice down!"
She blinked at him, her eyes wide.
"Why, is it a secret?"
"Yes… no…" He shook his head to clear it. "What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?"
She frowned at him, and again her expression was far too innocent. Raven always looked so… knowing.
He wondered briefly, if maybe… when time had been flung backwards again, there had been a mix-up somewhere. Perhaps Raven and Starfire had somehow swapped bodies again – she was indeed acting extremely like Starfire.
It was just a thought, but…
"Star?" He asked cautiously, taking her elbows. "That you? Are you in Raven's body again?"
Raven – or Raven's body at least – blinked at him.
"No, I'm Raven," she told him brightly after a few seconds. She beamed widely. "And you're Robin. I like you. You're nice."
She nodded pertly to accentuate her point.
"You're a nice person. You help good people and beat up mean people." She cocked her head at him. "Also, you're really nice-looking, except when your mouth is dropped open like that…"
He stared at her all over again; then realised that yes, his mouth was hanging open yet again in utter shock. He shut it and shook his head again, utterly bewildered.
This wasn't Raven. It couldn't be. Raven didn't act like this. Hell, even Starfire didn't act like this… She was acting like a brainless stereotypical high school cheerleader-type; someone who stated the obvious, then beamed as though she thought she was being perceptive.
It couldn't be her, it just couldn't be.
But then, if it wasn't… then who was she? And where was the real Raven? Had there truly been a mix-up? Raven – the normal one – had fallen from his grip in the time portal; he hadn't been holding on to her all the way through. What if this wasn't her?
She was still beamed at him.
"I like you," she said again. "You're my friend. I like friends."
"Me too," he replied weakly.
This. Had. Completely. Thrown. A. Spanner. In. The. Works…
He pressed his palms to his forehead and leaned his head back in despair, closing his eyes. There was a brief silence.
"I'm pregnant," Raven said suddenly.
"I know," Robin answered sullenly, not taking his hands from his face.
"It's yours," she went happily.
"No, it isn't," he snapped.
Her actual words didn't sink in until about five seconds later. He slowly took his hands from his forehead and tilted his head upright again, his masked eyes huge once more.
"What?" He hissed.
She grinned happily.
"It's your baby. You made me pregnant."
"Wrong. Well, okay, I did get you pregnant, but it's not mine …" He looked at her in utter despair. "Hello, Raven? Were you not there the whole time Seth was… Seth… It's Seth's baby, damn it! Seth Elliott's!"
She looked puzzled for a second or two; then the smile returned.
"Ah, you're funny… I like Seth Elliott, he's funny too." She put her hands to her stomach. "It's your baby. You're gonna be a daddy."
"Okay, first of all, Raven, if that is who you really are…" Robin took a deep breath. "That thing inside you is not mine, Seth Elliott isn't funny; he's dead, and I am not going to be a "daddy" because I am sending that demon parasite living off you to hell."
She backed up from him, her hands clutching at her swollen stomach and a horrified expression on her face.
"You are not going to send it to hell!" She said shrilly. "Your own baby?"
Robin gripped at his spiky hair in frustration.
"It's… not… mine!" He raged through gritted teeth at her.
Tears formed in her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, her voice cracking. "Of course it's yours… You're the one who… who else's could it be?"
"Seth Elliott's!"
"But you… he…" The tears overflowed and began to spill down her pale face. "You and me, in Azarath… we…" She looked at him dolefully and put her hands together to make a bird shape, as though making shadow puppets in the light of a torch. "You had wings," she said mournfully, flapping her fingers.
He groaned wearily.
"I know, I know…"
"I don't understand," Raven said quietly.
"Neither do I…" He sighed wearily. "Don't you remember anything?"
She sucked her finger thoughtfully.
"I remember getting up this morning. I was sick a lot, and I yelled at Starfire. Then I had a fight with you, and you gave me some clothes. Oh, and I had a waffle for breakfast." She frowned thoughtfully. "But then I was sick again…"
"So… the whole "getting-kidnapped-by-Seth-Elliott-and-then-being-brought-to-the-future-to-watch-me-die-as-a-sacrifice-for-you-so-Seth-could-get-his-powers-back" thing is just one big blank?"
She blinked at him again; then smiled.
"You look like a stop light."
"What?" His expression was one of absolute incredulity.
Her smile widened.
"See, look…" She prodded first his shirt, then the underside of his cape, and then one of his gloves. "Red, yellow and green. Stop lights are red, yellow and green too."
"No kidding," he muttered darkly.
She pushed her cloak back to look at the clothes she was wearing – cast-offs of his that were far too big for him.
"I'm wearing your clothes," she giggled. "They smell nice."
"I've never worn them, that's why…"
She leaned against him before he could bat her away, her arms going around his chest. She breathed him in, her amethyst eyes closing.
"You smell nice too. You smell like… boy, I guess."
He pushed her away with a false little laugh, both irritated and creeped out.
He couldn't figure this out. He assumed that it was Raven – the tiny ruby and platinum ring on her finger cemented this fact – and it wasn't Starfire in her body, and she had memories of what had happened prior to the Teen Titans coming to the warehouse.
However… she was acting extremely strangely and had no recollection of the events that had happened in the "future". She was as clueless as the other three, who had not been present, wouldn't believe him when he clarified that the baby wasn't his, and wasn't herself at all.
A sinking feeling overtook him; he felt as though someone had grabbed his innards, tied them in a knot and kicked them up and down a football field a few dozen times before replacing them in his body.
Now what was he going to do? How could he save Raven and destroy the child if she was acting this way? He knew she would be no help to him, and if she truly believed that the baby was his, having no memory of the events that had remedied this assumption…
…He was right back to Square One – Raven not wanting to abort it and protesting angrily when he suggested it, accusing him of wanting to murder his own baby. And with her not even herself, he knew in his heart there would be no convincing her, not unless he could manage to restore her memory. But he didn't even know how she had lost it in the first place…
Okay, well, he could be sweet when he wanted. He would play up to her for now – work at her level and see where it got him. He didn't like to do it – it felt like patronising her; but then, he wasn't entirely sure that Raven in this state would mind, or even notice, for that matter…
He opened his mouth to say something to her, but was interrupted by an explosion of both green and blue light interfused, followed by a whoop of "BOO-YAH!" from somewhere across the warehouse. Starfire's victorious little giggle accompanied this, and Beast Boy was heard cheering too. It didn't take much a detective – and Robin was certainly one of those – to figure out that Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy had been successful in K.O-ing Cinderblock and Plasmus.
It wasn't over yet.
Slade still needed a warning butt-kicking; to clear up this little prophecy matter once and for all.
Two things:
One: Raven. Mwa ha ha. Yet another twist in the tale. You thought this was all going to be straightforward? (Incidentally, for anyone interested, her behaviour is modelled on that of Buffy-bot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer…)
Two: George Santayana. This joke actually comes from Revolution, in which Mad Mod says "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" was spoken by a wise Englishman. This is of course an ironic joke, because it was actually said by an American philosopher, George Santayana. Oh, Mod, you're so dumb…
Anyway… yes. Greetings to all from the University of Birmingham in Jolly Old England, and I'll update soon(er)!
- RobinRocks xXx