Brotherhood

Chapter 12: Don't Let Me Fall

Robin looked down at his communicator, his sharp blue-gray eyes clouded in frustration. He'd tried to get through to Raven and Beast Boy three times each, but he'd gotten nothing more than static for his efforts. He'd been called paranoid on more than one occasion by Cyborg in the past, but this time felt different than just worrying too much. Robin knew in the pit of his stomach that something had gone wrong.

Switching his communicator to its GPS mode, he quickly found where Beast Boy's communicator was; hopefully, Beast Boy wouldn't be far from it. Raven's wasn't registering anywhere, backing up Robin's suspicion that it had been destroyed in the fight that had driven them from Titans' Tower in the first place. Grabbing his new bo-staff from its place leaning against the wall, Robin collapsed it and headed towards the door of his room. He paused as he reached to open it, his eyes wandering over to the domino mask resting on a small table.

But the moment passed, and he walked through the door and out into the hall wearing a set of street clothes. He'd lost the right to wear that mask when he'd been killed by Slade and had allowed the Titans to be broken; if he was going to climb back to his old position, he would have to earn it. The only reason he even kept the title of 'Robin' was to constantly remind himself of what he'd lost, and what he had to regain.

His hand moved unconsciously to his neck, feeling for any physical sign of the deathblow Slade had given him. But nothing was there: the Lazarus Pits had done their job, leaving Robin with nothing but the festering guilt in the back of his mind to mark his passing. He could feel the lingering loose ends in the dark corners of his soul starting to fray even more, as well; the Lazarus Pits might have allowed him to cheat death, but they exacted a high price indeed for their services.

Robin wondered how Ra's had survived for so many centuries without going completely and totally insane, before he reminded himself that something like sanity probably didn't mean much to a man like Ra's. Which was most likely what had caused Batman's split from the League of Shadows in the first place, despite his feelings for Talia.

And so why, then, was Robin still clinging to them like a life-raft, knowing everything the League had done and would yet do?

"Robin? Are you all right?"

The question pulled him roughly out of his thoughts, and Robin blinked to find Starfire was standing in front of him. He'd walked all the way to her room without even really meaning to.

"Yeah," he said, "I'm fine. I was just going to check up on Beast Boy and Raven… I haven't heard from them since last night. Beast Boy might not check in after something like that, but it's really off for Raven not to."

Starfire nodded, a determined look in her eyes that told Robin exactly what she was about to say.

"I agree with you. We should look for them together; if they are in need of help, both of us would be of more assistance than just one."

The pair made their way down through the rest of the twisting halls in silence, eventually reaching the wide double doors that marked the entrance to the public face of the League and stepping out into the morning sunlight. As Starfire reflexively shielded her eyes against the glare, she found herself looking over at Robin and she froze.

No matter how many times she saw him like this, with his mask off and eyes fully visible, the Tamaranean was sure she would never get used to it. It was true that it pained her to see the turmoil and confusion passing over Robin's expression. But the fact that he trusted her enough to drop his guard this much around her filled Starfire with a sensation that was both exhilarating and incredibly fulfilling all the same. It was a completely irrational combination, to be sure… but based on what little Galfore had told her of the nature of love when she'd been younger, Starfire assumed it was anything but rational.

"Star? Is something wrong?"

The sound of Robin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts in an instant; Starfire just smiled and shook her head.

"I was just thinking about how nice it is to see your eyes."

Robin returned the smile, letting the contentment of the moment linger on his face briefly before his eyes hardened again.

"Let's go."

Starfire rose into the air and gripped Robin's forearms, taking him with her like they'd done so many other times before. Flying brought them to the place where Beast Boy's communicator was supposedly waiting in fifteen minutes rather than the hour it would have taken them to walk. When the pair got there, they found Beast Boy's communicator…

But nothing else.

"This is strange indeed," Starfire said, her brows furrowing in confusion. "There are signs that a struggle occurred here recently, and Beast Boy's communicator being present is a clear sign that both he and Raven were involved in it… but where could they have gone?"

"That's what I want to know," Robin mused, scanning the area for any clues of footprints leading away from the scene of the skirmish and finding none. Where the hell could they have disappeared to?

"You two lookin' for those guys that was here earlier?"

The two Titans looked over towards the source of the question and saw a disheveled man wearing raggedy old clothes sitting next to the ruins of the storefront that had been wrecked by the fight. He didn't seem like the most reputable source for information, but at this point Robin was willing to take whatever leads he could get his hands on.

"Did you see what happened to them?" he asked. "The girl with purple hair and the guy with green skin."

The man's shoulders shuddered slightly and he shrugged, his eyes darting from side to side once before settling back down again.

"Eh," he said vaguely, "my memory's a lil' fuzzy. Explosions an' all, y'understand…"

Robin's mouth straightened into a line and his jaw clenched for a few heartbeats, but soon enough his hand slipped into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing and pulled out a wad of cash.

"This jog anything?" he asked as he tossed it to the man, who caught it and greedily shoved it into his pockets without even pausing to count the bills.

"Yeah, it does," the man answered. "There was a third guy; white hair. He split first, vanished inta thin air, I swear. The green kid was in bad shape, hole inna gut, and the girl was passed out from the fight. Then these two other guys showed up outta goddamn nowhere, picked 'em up and disappeared again. Wearin' robes, the two of 'em was. Said somethin' like 'Arella's not going to be happy when she sees this,' and then boom, they disappeared again. Took the green kid and the girl with 'em."

"Arella…" Starfire repeated, wondering why the name sounded so familiar. A beat later, her eyes lit up in discovery. "That's the name of Raven's mother!" she exclaimed. "They must have taken them to Azarath!"

"Yeah," Robin agreed, his eyes clouding over with doubts. "But considering the condition they were in, my guess is it was an emergency transportation… something bad happened to Raven, and her mother called in the cavalry. And now that they're in another dimension, we have no way of getting to them at all."

"I am sure it will all be fine in the end," the Tamaranean reassured her loved one. "After all, we survived the end of the world… this should be easy."

Robin grimaced at the words.

"I really wish you hadn't said that, Star."

Starfire smiled impishly.

"You, believing in superstitions?" she teased, kissing him lightly on the lips. "I do hope the sky does not start collapsing on us."

Robin chuckled and shook his head in wonder as the two of them began the return trip to Ra's' headquarters: if nothing else, she always knew how to cheer him up.

The bright light above his head pulled Beast Boy gently back to reality, but his vision was still swimming even after he blinked a few times in succession.

"Ugh," he groaned, gripping his forehead and trying to will away the pounding headache that had sprung back up with a vengeance. "I feel like shit warmed over."

A laugh floated over from his right, and Beast Boy turned his head to see someone standing not too far away from the bed he was lying on. It looked like—

"Raven…?"

"Not quite," a kind voice replied, "but close. You know, I think that's the first time I've heard the aftereffects of dimensional travel described that way, but I also think it's the best fit I've heard yet."

"You must be Raven's mom," Beast Boy put together at last. "I should've known there was something off about the hair."

Arella laughed, and Beast Boy forced himself up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and getting the first good look at his surroundings.

And what surroundings they were.

The walls of the room he was in seemed to be made of liquid gold, shifting and shimmering as the light shown on them almost as if the material itself was alive. The floor was brilliant black obsidian, polished to a mirror shine. Torches rested in sconces on the walls, flickering merrily as they waited for night to come.

"Wow," Beast Boy said after a low whistle. "I gotta say, this is the nicest hospital I've ever been in."

"Oh, this is the recovery room," Arella clarified. "You've been out for a while. Seemed like you had quite the fight, from what the healers told me after they finished stitching you up."

As if on some perverse cue, pain flared up in Beast Boy's abdomen where he'd been stabbed, and he wretched in pain.

"Are you all right?" Arella asked, concerned, only for him to wave her off.

"It'll pass in a sec," he told her, raising his head again and looking at Arella with worried eyes. "How's Raven? Is she okay?"

"She should be fine," Arella said smoothly, but Beast Boy didn't miss the worry that passed over her expression.

"What happened to her?" he pressed. "Please, just tell me; if something bad went down, I'd rather you tell me than find out from somebody else."

Arella sighed and hesitated, but she didn't hold her silence for long.

"Raven was poisoned by whomever attacked her," she explained. "Normally she would have been able to fight it off, given her heritage from her father, but she was rendered severely weakened after she saved your life."

"She saved me?" the changeling asked, his eyes widening. "How? Why?"

"Raven transferred a large amount of her soul's own energy into your body, essentially performing first aid on the wounds your attacker gave you," Arella said. "Without that, I highly doubt you would have survived the trip here. As to your second question," she continued, a small smile curving her lips, "I think that answer should be obvious."

"Where's Raven now?" Beast Boy asked, pushing off of the bed and steadying himself on his feet. "I need to see her; make sure she's all right. If she's in bad shape now, it's my fault I let Malchior mess me up so badly. Damn, I'm such an idiot!"

Arella blanched, her whole expression changing from mildly amused to borderline terrified in an instant.

"That name you said just now," she asked after a moment, trying to remain calm, "was that the one who attacked you? Malchior?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy said bitterly. "Snide dragon wearing human skin, gigantic asshole; kinda hard to miss. You know him?"

"All too well, unfortunately," Arella replied. "When Trigon last attacked Azarath seventeen years ago, Malchior was one of the demons at his right hand. No doubt he's come back for some kind of revenge, and how he gets it is through Raven."

"Seventeen years?" Beast Boy echoed. "No, that's impossible; Raven told me Malchior had said he'd been locked inside the book she found by some guy called Rorek almost 1,000 years ago."

Arella gave a thin, bitter smile.

"And you believed him?"

"… Good point."

"Raven told the healers what kind of poison Malchior used on her, however," Arella offered as some form of consolation. "They should have the treatment ready to give to her soon."

"I guess that's something, at least," the changeling said wearily. "Damn it… if I hadn't been such a moron, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Stop blaming yourself for this," Arella urged, walking over and putting her hand on his shoulder in the comforting way that only a mother could. "If Malchior was the one you faced, you should consider it a minor miracle that you're still alive. Right now, Raven needs people by her side that she can draw strength from. If she sees you like this, it'll do nothing but aggravate her and make the poison work even faster."

Beast Boy nodded, hearing the wisdom in Arella's words even if it was hard to accept. As he took a step forward, though, a wave of blistering heat went through his entire body and he almost lost his footing.

"What was that?" he breathed after it had passed, feeling oddly drained.

"What I was afraid of," Arella answered anxiously. "Backlash."

"Which is what, exactly?" the changeling asked pointedly. "I don't speak magic-ese."

"When Raven transferred her soul's energy into you, she formed a bond between her soul and yours. Normally, the bonds forged by healing are weak and tenuous, and break down soon after being made. A bond this deep, though, doesn't break down unless it's consciously severed."

"And if that happens?" Beast Boy pushed, getting the feeling there was something Arella was hesitant to mention.

"If that happens, then both of you would very likely die from the trauma."

Beast Boy felt his heart skip a beat as the full weight of that statement settled over him, but he regained his footing.

"So any pain that Raven feels from this poison gets split between me and her," he finished, putting the rest of the pieces together. And then, unexpectedly, he smiled. "That's perfect!"

Arella couldn't help but arch an eyebrow in confusion.

"It is?"

"What, you don't see it?" the changeling said, seeming suddenly energized as he paced back and forth. "If I shoulder half of her pain, then that gives her twice as long to get cured. Right?"

Arella smiled widely as she saw where Beast Boy was coming from, feeling a tug in her chest that she knew had been a long time coming.

Her little girl's heart didn't belong to just her mother anymore. But that was fine by Arella: she couldn't have picked a better man herself.

"You are a truly good soul, Garfield Logan," she said sincerely. "One of the few. Be there for her, when I can't."

Beast Boy gave a wide, determined grin.

"You can count on me," he said firmly, before fairly bolting towards the door.

Trusting his instincts, the changeling let the pull of the bond he and Raven now shared guide him towards the room she was resting in. It didn't take him long to find; he could feel her behind the carved golden door, so attuned to her presence that he swore he could almost hear her heartbeat. This connection went way beyond anything the empathy of his animal instincts provided him—it truly felt like their souls were joined.

He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before his fist could tap it.

"Come in, Beast Boy," Raven said from her position propped up on her bed. "You of all people don't need to knock."

It pained the changeling deeply to look at Raven's drawn face and her tired eyes, but he buried his own guilt and went over to her side. He sat down in the chair next to the top of her bed and waited, trying to think of something uplifting to say.

"You don't have to say it," the empath spoke up dryly. "I know I look like crap."

"I think," Beast Boy said seriously, reaching over and brushing a stray lock of hair back behind Raven's ear, "that you look beautiful."

"Thanks," she said thinly, "but you don't have to lie on my account, Romeo."

"You think I'm lying to you?" Beast Boy countered. "You can feel what I feel now, Raven. So you tell me if I'm lying or not."

Raven relaxed her mind against the pain of the poison flowing through her veins, letting her awareness mingle with Beast Boy's. What she felt there made guilt spike up in her chest so suddenly that it snapped off the connection.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice more than a little pained.

"Why am I doing what?"

"Following me down this road," Raven said as firmly as she could. "Shouldering my burden for me. This is my problem; I don't want you getting hurt again because of me—!"

Beast Boy cut her words off with a sudden kiss, smiling to himself as Raven relaxed into it after a moment's hesitation. When he broke away a few seconds later he stayed close, resting his forehead lightly against her own.

"Don't steal my line," he whispered. "I'm doing this because you're my friend, and because I know you'd have done the same for me. I'm doing this because I love you."

Raven closed her eyes and smiled.

"Thank you, Beast Boy," she said. "For everything."

"Don't mention it."

The changeling pulled back and rose, walking quickly around to the other side of the bed before Raven felt his weight join her. It wasn't long before his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her gently back into his chest, a feeling Raven found incredibly comforting.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered to her, conviction in every word. "Trust me."

"I do," she answered, letting her fatigued body finally drift off to sleep. "More than anyone else."

Slade made his way through the underground corridors of the Brotherhood's headquarters with an even, unerring stride; despite the near-pitch darkness surrounding him, the criminal was confident nothing would threaten him here. Turning a corner, he began to walk down the final hallway towards the room that was his destination. He made sure that his footfalls on the steel plating of the floor made no sound; he didn't want the subject of his visit to have any forewarning of his arrival.

The door slid open with a whisper, revealing the room's sole occupant hunched over a computer console that was hooked up to a large monitor. The screen took up most of the wall, and as he took a closer look Slade saw that the size wasn't just on account of its creator's vanity: there was a massive network of cables and power sources hooked up to it, no doubt necessary for the task it was being built to perform.

"Ah, you're just in time, Slade," Brother Blood said pleasantly as he looked up and turned to face his ally with a calm smile. "I think you'll be pleased to find that everything is running to the exact specifications you required, and then some."

Slade was anything but an optimist, his single eye narrowing as he reviewed the schematics readout that was still visible on the console's monitor.

"Are you sure this will broadcast a signal strong enough to reach Tamaran?"

Blood's smile widened.

"It can reach three light-years beyond Tamaran at half-power. Don't worry; I always thoroughly test my creations before opening them up to the viewing public."

"Excellent," Slade said, tapping in the coordinates for the signal beam and confirming them.

There was a low, deep hum as the machine processed the command, and then the large screen blazed to life. It was plain white for a few moments, until the frequency was hailed and the other end of the channel was open to communications. A face was soon visible on the screen, narrow and defined, with two bright green eyes and crowned by short, dark red hair.

"The Reborn Imperium of Tamaran receives your message, Earth-dweller," the Tamaranean said in perfect, unaccented English. "What is the purpose of your hail?"

"I wish to speak to the Emperor."

If the Tamaranean was shocked by the request, he didn't show it, but the look in his eyes hardened almost imperceptibly.

"Be grateful that we are not face-to-face, human," he said. "Greater lifeforms than you have been killed for lesser insolence than demanding a meeting with our sovereign Gran'kar without just cause."

Slade smiled beneath his mask; he had his opponent right where he wanted them.

"Oh, but I do have just cause for speaking to him," the criminal replied smoothly. "Don't you think your high and mighty sovereign would care to know where your two missing Tamaranean princesses are currently located? And don't you think he'd be most displeased if he knew you were keeping him from this most sensitive information?"

This time it was clear the Tamaranean was shocked, and he made no effort to hide his surprise.

"You know the whereabouts Koriand'r and Komand'r?" he repeated, eyes widening. "Wait just a moment; I'll transfer you to the Emperor presently."

Slade chuckled as the screen flickered to white standby. He was glad to know that, regardless of their warrior culture's reputation, Tamaranean middlemen were just as easy to push around as their human counterparts. A few beats later, the screen came back to life. The face Slade and Blood were seeing now was a new one, and it was immediately apparent to both of them that it belonged to the Emperor, Gran'kar.

He looked to be in his mid-thirties, but there was a coldness to his eyes that gave him the air of a man wise and experienced far beyond his years. The war-like environment of his homeworld coupled with a long military career had no doubt forged the Emperor into a ruthless leader and highly capable tactician. Slade drew in a breath and readied himself for the hard part.

"I am Emperor Gran'kar of Reborn Imperium," he said, his cold, steely tone only serving to affirm Slade's initial impression. "I hear you have valuable information you wish to share with me, human."

"I do indeed, your highness," Slade answered with a nod. "But as I am sure you are aware, such things are not given freely."

"Of course not," Gran'kar said flatly, taking the opening of negotiations in stride. "Name your price."

"The Spearhead."

Slade had expected the Emperor to be caught off-guard, or even angered by the demand. But for once, it was the one-eyed criminal who found himself surprised as Gran'kar began to laugh.

"A bold request to make of me, human," he said after he'd calmed back down. "I commend your spine. And for someone not of our people, you seem to know much of our ways."

"I have my sources, your highness."

Gran'kar smiled.

"The Spearhead is the ruling family's most trusted guard," he said. "They are the best warriors our people have to offer. Why should I give them to you, human?"

"Because an Emperor only needs a guard if he has something to fear," Slade replied pointedly. "Once the princess Starfire and her sister are out of the way, there will be no threat at all to the security of your throne. As such, there will be no immediate need for the Spearhead at your side. And when my business is done here, they will return to you. You have my word on that."

Gran'kar was silent for several heartbeats, but in the end he nodded his head in agreement.

"Very well, human," he said. "I will send you the Spearhead in exchange for the exiles, with one provision."

"Name it."

"The Captain of the Guard will be the one to track down and retrieve the fugitives, and bring them to me on Tamaran to be judged. Once that is done, he will be re-deployed back down to Earth, to rejoin the rest of the Spearhead. Is that an acceptable term?"

Slade nodded.

"That it is, your highness," he answered. "I'm transmitting the coordinates now; you may send your troops here whenever they are ready to move."

"They are always ready to carry out any order they are given, human," Gran'kar said, pride in his voice. "I think you will find that to be one of their more admirable qualities."

"I'm looking forward to it."

The Emperor gave a cruel smirk.

"As well you should be. I never got your name, human."

Slade smiled once more beneath his mask.

"I never gave it."

The connection was severed with the push of a button, and Brother Blood let out a breath he'd been holding for most of the exchange.

"That was quite the coup you pulled there, Slade," he said approvingly. "I must say, I'm impressed."

"Don't get too comfortable yet," the criminal cautioned, turning and walking towards the door. "I still need you to carry out one last task for me, once the Spearhead arrive."

"Yes, yes; I know," Blood said tiredly as the door shut behind Slade, leaving him alone again.

"No rest for the wicked after all," the older man sighed, before a smile crept across his face. "Oh well… at least this will be fun."

…

…

A/N: Whew, finally! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, but classes started and turned all my free time upside down. That, and the last scene of this chapter took forever to write, since it was originally going to be something different that would have had a huge impact on the next 10 or so chapters. But even as it stands now, it'll still have a huge impact on things to come, which forced me to have a concrete path for the next bunch of chapters. And making up my mind to that degree took a while, hence the delay.

So, some Robin/Starfire fluff snuck in under the radar after all. Good times; I've always liked those two. Meanwhile, Raven and Beast Boy have their own stormclouds looming on the horizon, and Slade's up to no good yet again. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and please review if you would be so kind. It really does mean a lot, and especially now that classes have started, motivation to write (and free time) are going to be in short supply. So every drop of feedback will help immensely!

Thanks go out to the usual suspects anon, Renting and Wolvmbm for their consistent reviews; you guys are awesome. And to all of you still reading, get ready: the introductory Arc is over, and now the story's about to really kick into high gear. I hope to see you there!

Jazz