Chapter Twelve: First Anniversary's Statue

A/N: The last chapter! Finally. No more forthcoming, as one half of this brilliant coupleis dead. It's been a long, long path to take, one filled with holes and pitfalls,character development and plot wise, but the end is finally here.

Snow has covered her grave,

And flowers have withered away,

Cold wind cries in the trees,

Frozen tears mark my grief,

'Her name was Raven. We had been in love from the moment we laid eyes on each other though we both chose to deny it. I fell in and out of what I thought was love, and she tried to find it too, but was horribly betrayed, finally giving up on love. Sadly content to be just a friend to us all. That was until one winter's day, when I had fallen out of what I chose to call love, and found her, my one true love, waiting still for me.

We all thought she was cold, and ruthlessly practical, but it was born of a determination to keep the ones that depended on her, on the team safe. I had the privilege of seeing behind those amethyst eyes. To know that that seemingly hard heart really could bleed.

It bled for all of us, when we were hurt, both in heart and body. She wanted to heal, to offer comfort and to show that she was like all of us, but could not. It was her curse, born from a hated father's demonic blood, her last act sealing him away forever from the ones she cared about and protected. That was her true gift, springing from her curse.

It took a little coaxing and a lot of patience but she loved me, truly loved me. We had one season together, one magical spring. It was the best time of my life.

Then she was taken away. She gave herself to save her friends and so many people in the city she protected. She saved an entire city. She gave them her life, so many people whom she didn't even know. And she was so brave in doing what she did.

The team never did recover from our loss; we broke apart. We could not hope to match her unifying mediating presence. She was the glue that held us all together.

For as long as I live, I will always remember those words I had longed to hear, those words which sealed my heart forever. 'I love you, Richard'. It is both my gift and my curse.

A gift that I had someone who loved and accepted me for who I was, to know all there was to know about me, my past, my darkness, my obsessions, and still go on loving me withought reservation. That bond can never be found again.

My curse, that I can never find another like her as long as I live. And I am not going to start trying as I know I can never find it. Such a gift comes once, and you get only one shot at it.

There is but one true love for each of us. True love comes but once in a lifetime, but like so many things in this hardened world, it comes at a price. True love demands a high price, sometimes a penance. True love demands such a high price because in paying for it you realise how profound and deep it really is; and it makes you cherish it even more and learn not to take it for granted. I have both a price to pay and a penance to perform; and I intend to pay in full for those few months of joy, for my reward is eternity. Eternity with my true love, for that, I would readily do twice what I had been set.

I found my true love, and I had to let her go much too soon. But I will keep on waiting until I find her, and I can hold her once again in my arms.

Because, for as long as my heart beats, and there is breath in my body, there will be but one love for me and no other. She is now free in the sky, her wings reaching out even from the clouds to shelter us, flying free from her curse, the curse of her blood, her birth. She is my love, my angel.'

The flickering weak candlelight,

Shatters the dead of the night,

I bury my face in my hands,

I try to speak but I can't.

A dark figure stood in the little cemetery, brooding above Raven's grave. The stark silhouette of the tower rising from its island behind the figure was backlit dramatically by the setting sun. The same sun that threw its warm golden light on the multitude of flowers strewn on her grave. The team and the people of the city she saved still remembered.

With a breeze arrives a sparrow,

Lands on her gravestone,

I raise my head and realise,

I am no longer alone

The figure was Robin no longer, but Nightwing. Raven's death had changed all that. Or her death was merely a catalyst in a transformation already inevitable; no one really knew.

All that anyone knew that was the team was no more; its members scattered around the country. But Nightwing chose to stay. To stay close to her grave.

Haven of shadows in a garden of stone

It was as promised that fateful morning; their love was deep and true, although it had only been just one season in the making. It was a love made up of a million shared looks and private jokes, a thousand conversations, and casual touches, a hundred walks along the beach and in the parks, hand in hand.

Though he could never get over her death. Not completely. Sometimes at night he would wake, saying her name, reaching out to find only an empty space. It was then he commissioned her statue, and the poem that would be engraved at its base.

Cold wind blows out the flame,

And darkness surrounds me again,

The sparrow starts silently singing,

A song only she and I know

'You taught me so much, so much about love, and its value. I'll never have a chance to fully repay you, not if you gave me a thousand lifetimes. But I can only try. Your last act was to save us all, to keep this city safe; and I will continue that. As long as I am here, this city will stand, and stand strong. Your last gesture will not be in vain. I will see to that.

I finally grew up when you said you loved me, our time together continued that. Despite our short time together, you showed me what it was like to grow into myself, to fully understand both life and love. Your death finished the job. I have learned to deal with loss, and to accept penance and redemption.

You came along and helped me to grow up. With that, I am Robin no longer, as I was no longer when you said you loved me. I am now someone completely different. I am Nightwing. Your memory gave birth to my new identity, and he and I will continue to keep your memory alive, to give you immortality through our memories, and continue what you died doing, in your name.'

The flame had been passed, a memory kept burning, and the city would never again fall, not in this lifetime.

I shed a tear on her gravestone,

And silently whisper her name,

As cold wind still shakes the trees,

I know she rests in peace.

It was on this day, the anniversary of her death that he came, while the sun was setting, that he made this journey. The light of the sun reminiscent yet the opposite of the day they truly met and realised their feelings for each other.

Nearing the end of his time there, Robin sensed someone watching and turned; spying the figure of Alex, still shrouded in his cloak. Their eyes met, and in an instant, what passed between them was a moment of perfect understanding. It was the painful memory of the loss of someone whom had meant more to them than anything else, someone who meant more to them than their own safety; someone they would die to protect. If only they could have. A moment of sharing; an instant message of lost hopes and dreams sent, received, confided, and shared.

Robin steeled himself mentally for the task Raven had placed upon him before she died. And blurted out what he had been told to say.

'Raven, before she died, told me to tell you thank you for your warning and help, and that she loves and forgives you. She had never held it against you. Here. She left this for you. I would have given it to you sooner, but I could never find you.' Robin stammered.

He held out a letter very similar to the one she had received, telling them of her father's plans so long ago. Alex took it reverently from his hands, holding it like it would shatter. He opened it slowly and skimmed its pages rapidly.

'I thank you. You would not have found me. I have grown…adept over the years in hiding myself when I did not wish to be found. You don't know how much that means to me.'

'Why? If I may ask?' replied Robin puzzled.

'To put it briefly, once, long ago, I made a terrible mistake, and was cursed for it. I have walked the world for many centuries, seeking a way for my curse to be lifted. I was told it would be through love, and an unselfish forgiveness. Through the years, despite many others I placed my hopes on, only to be dashed, she was the only one I ever truly cared about, with all my heart.

I once caused her great pain by an accident of mine. I have waited years to find a way to make it up to her. Not for myself, but for her happiness, her peace of mind. This past year was spent in fear, as I felt it was not enough and that she died before I could fully make amends, and that she died hating me, blaming me. Like all the others in my quest for redemption.

Now that I have your word, and this letter, I can finally believe in it. With belief, truly comes my redemption. In her I have found it, what I have been searching for. My burden is lifted, my soul is free. Now, I may finally go. Farewell, Raven's beloved. Do not fret. She will have spoken highly of you to the Witness, and even now waits for you in the Plains, watching over you until you may join her in eternal rest. I go now to mine.'

Still holding the letter close to him, his figure began to gradually seem less real, less tangible, until he became as ephemeral as a ghost, his gaze fixing on a point in the sky behind Nightwing. His last whispered words; 'Dearest Raven, thank you. You save not only a city with your caring, but a lost tortured soul as well. Thank you. Thank you for my freedom.' Then, he faded to nothing. The letter fluttering down to the ground.

With a breeze leaves the sparrow,

Flying to the unknown,

I bow my head and realise,

I want to follow.

Relieved that he had finally accomplished Raven's final wish, he could do the other task he had set out to do.

He stepped forward, and placed, not a bouquet of flowers, no, they were temporary and they would only fade; but a small statue. Her true gravestone. Beneath it, weighing it down, he placed her letter to Alex. Another token form another person she had saved, just by being alive.

It was a little statue of two birds singing on a leafy branch. A symbol of them both; and of that one spring that they had had together. On the base was engraved a short poem composed by him in the dark lonely nights following her death.

True love comes but once,

True love stays for forever.

My only eternal love,

My heart beats now for you only,

And for you it will never be too late,

For you alone I shall wait.

He did.

The end.

(finally.)