Long is the Way

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

"How touching," he muttered contemptuously. His scope was focused on the two stragglers, the green one known as Beast Boy, and the other one they called Raven. It seemed they were having a moment. He handed her something, and soon they were walking back towards their friends, who had waited and watched them. It was all so mawkish. So despicably sentimental, it made him hate them all the more.

He knew in a few moments that they would all be in a vulnerable cluster, that, if he wanted, he could kill them all right there. So quickly, so efficiently. But then there would be no pain. So he took careful aim and fired four shots. Each hit its mark. He wished he could stay and watch the suffering, the agony so akin to that which plagued him and drove him to this, but his desire for complete vengeance was too great for him to risk it all by staying. He was long gone before they had even thought to look for him.

She knew what was happening as soon as she'd heard the first shot. She knew, but she couldn't stop it. She dropped to the ground instinctively. She heard Beast Boy do the same just a few paces behind her, and saw the others, about a hundred yards ahead, drop as well. There were four shots in total. She waited as the last shot rang out. Ahead she saw Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire all slowly look up. She lifted herself off the ground and turned. Beast Boy hadn't moved. She could feel her pulse beginning to quicken, her head suddenly felt insubstantial, fear was flooding her, but she had to control it, or things would turn so much worse. The smell of his blood colored the air. Slowly, with carefully measured steps, she walked to him, and then kneeled next to him. She could hear the others running towards her. She could feel the panic that pervaded every step. Beast Boy laid there so quietly, his back was a gory mess, and she couldn't tell if he was breathing under all that blood, but she could only see three wounds.

"Beast Boy?" She kept her voice very calm, but she was panicking. Nothing. Her control was slipping further every moment. She carefully flipped him over, his blood soaking her hands. The fourth wound gaped from his stomach. He coughed harshly, splattering blood everywhere, but Raven didn't care. She knew now he was not dead, one less thing to worry about. Her hands shook slightly with desire to heal him, but she did not allow herself to be so rash.

She scowled as she looked him over. No exit wounds. This improved his chances of survival if he were to go to a hospital, but it also meant she could not heal him. If she healed him without taking out the bullets, than his organs would heal around the bullets, and they would slowly poison him. Whoever had shot him knew what they were doing. The shots had been strong enough to rip him open, but small enough so as to not leave the body.

"Raven?" Robin asked gently, almost afraid. He could see Beast Boy from where he stood. Raven's voice shook as she spoke, but still, somehow, remained monotone.

"I can't heal him. If I were to heal him with the bullets still inside him, they would probably poison him and eventually kill him. But there's a chance we can still save him." They knew what she was suggesting, and for any normal person it would have been common sense, but it doesn't work the same way when you're a wanted criminal.

"You can't be saying what I think you're saying." Cyborg said, a tone of shock and horror in his voice. They knew what Raven wanted to do, and it could mean the death of them both.

"Friend, we will find another way. We will not allow you to do this." Starfire was on the verge of tears as she spoke. Robin said nothing, he knew that Raven already had made up her mind.

"I wasn't asking, and we're running out of time." They listened to her, sadly. And they knew this was the end. They knew that, after this moment, everything would have to change. Raven stood up, pulling her hood over her face to hide it. "Run. Get as far from here as you can. I will come back and I will find you." She wanted to say something more, but goodbyes would only make it worse.

"Raven, both of you could die if you go."

She met Robin's eyes, and he knew she didn't care. She sighed softly, and darkness enveloped her and Beast Boy.

The lonely three stood there in shock. So much had changed in just a few hours. So much had been destroyed. Robin broke the heavy silence.

"Raven's right. We need to keep moving." So they did. Saddened and broken, they kept moving.

The hospital had been bursting with energy moments before. People talking as they waited, people watching the muted TV's, people munching on unnamable breakfast foods, nurses rolling patients through the halls, nurses rushing to their checks. But as soon as they'd seen the two teens appear in the hall, bloody and weak, everyone had frozen as if they were trapped in that moment. Yet their eyes were following on the two broken teens.

"Please. He needs help, he's been shot." They all knew who she was. They knew who he was too. No one wanted to help. "Please. He didn't want this. He doesn't deserve this." She needed to get away, it was too much, too much all at once. She was afraid he was going to die, she was afraid she was going to die, and she was angry that no one would help her dying friend. "Have me arrested, have me executed, I deserve it. But please, just help him."

"Raven." He sounded so far away, so weak. "We can't expect them to help." He didn't seem angry or resentful as he spoke. He thought they were right, that he deserved to die. She refused to believe that. She couldn't let him die. That's when she heard the cock of a gun behind her.

"Raven Roth, you are under arrest for the armed robbery of several major banks. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." She slowly reached up and put her hands on the back of her head, and was led away, as Beast Boy lay dying, sentenced to his own execution, on the floor of a hospital.

A/N: Er. I'm kinda back. I think this chapter wasn't so good. Sorry.