Disclaimer: Teen Titans is the property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. "The Hollow Men" was written by T.S. Elliot, and the use of passages to open each chapter is done with the utmost respect for one of the English languages best craftsmen. Thank you, and enjoy.

Titans Broken

Chapter 16: Last Regrets

For Thine is…
Life is…
For Thine is the…

- T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Men"

Starfire gasped for breath as she slid down the interior wall, exhausted. Dick slumped against the opposite wall of the hall they were now huddled within. His bright blue eyes were glittering with tears. Her heart seemed to clench each time she saw his face. It felt like it was slowly being squeezed.

It hurt. It hurt more than she ever expected it to. Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg had all fallen to the enemy. The pain of their loss far exceeded that which she'd felt on seeing the others fall. She knew why, she remembered them now. The memories came flooding back as if their deaths had smashed through the remaining barriers created by her Z'hom. She remembered the cheeky grin that Beast Boy sported, how Raven always seemed to be around him for a bit of sarcasm, how Cyborg was like an older brother to them all.

Tears started to pour from her eyes and she slowly drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. Across from her, Richard ran his hands through his hair. Tear tracks covered his face as he looked down at the floor. A blanket jamming field had gone up in the moments ago cutting off contact to their last ally, Alfred.

Dick stared at her. His head throbbed painfully and he could feel every single one of his muscles tighten. His entire body ached and fatigue fell like a massive weight over his chest. Her breathing came in shallow fast gasps and he could see that she was hurting. One arm was lying protectively over her ribs.

Her bright red hair was tattered and frayed, scorched from near misses and her own energy at full power. Her glowing green eyes seemed to soften as she glanced at him, sitting across from her in the hall. As much as what he'd seen pained his heart, he felt part of himself, a part that he had shut years earlier had been opened to her. He worried about her, and found that through his eyes glassy with tears she was still his Star.

I really fucked up. He thought as she shut her eyes and let out a sigh. Her earnestness and lively spirit had burrowed deep into his heart when they'd first met. She was the one thing that was keeping him going. The one thing left that he could protect.

He closed his eyes at those thoughts. He'd admitted that he had feelings for her, but the depth of those feelings astonished him almost as much as the depth of the wounds left from the death of his fellow Titans. He felt like a complete failure.

Outside darkness had finally descended over Gotham. The occasional bang of gunfire or pulse of energy weapons echoed in the city. Everything had broken down.

"Star..." He reached over and squeezed her hand. "I've got your back."

She smiled faintly. "And I have yours Richard."

Neither of them spoke again for several minutes. They just sat quietly thinking. She felt so hurt, so exhaust, and so battered that it felt good to just sit there, waiting. After a few minutes, Richard stood and stumbled across to her side before slumping back to the floor beside her.

"Richard..." She spoke, her voice soft and exhausted. "What do we do?"

He shook his head and closed his eyes. After what must have been ten minutes or so, he spoke. "I don't know Star... I don't know."

She wiped her eyes and nodded. "I do not know either... It hurts, it hurts so badly." She glanced over at him and swallowed. "Richard?"

He leaned against her and closed his eyes. "Give me a minute."

She nodded and leaned against him as well, the two of them supporting each other even then. There was a click and Starfire glanced to see Richard pull off his utility belt and toss it against the wall. At her questioning look, he said. "It's out of power."

"Oh..." She said quietly before closing her eyes again. Her breathing slowed and she let out a sigh before laying her head on his shoulder. Tears slid down her cheeks. "So much has happened."

"Yeah." Richard said quietly. "Star... I... I want to say I'm sorry."

"For what Richard?"

"For screwing up so badly with you," He said. "I... I hurt you worse than I've hurt anyone. You didn't deserve what happened."

"None of us deserve what has happened Richard, but that has not erased that it has happened." She sighed. "I still do not remember everything... there are large parts after we did the breaking up that I do not remember either."

"I wish I could have done more..." He looked up at the wall. "I... I wish I'd done better."

"You have done more than anyone else. More than anyone could expect of you." She said sternly. "Except perhaps yourself."

Richard sighed. "I..." He closed his eyes and stood up. "We need to move."

She groaned as she staggered upright. A bang downstairs suddenly made her nerves tense and focus harden. "Yes... we must move. They are certainly searching for..."

There was a boom and the stairwell door at the end of the hall was knocked from it's frame. Two hulking green-skinned Citadelians scrambled inside with pikes clasped in their hands. She ignited her starbolts as the lead Citadelian pointed toward her.

[That one, the Tamaranian... She's valuable.] The Citadelian snapped and Starfire felt her anger rise to new heights, her very skin seemed to burn as she launched herself toward him.

Richard swore as Starfire charged. He watched as she blasted the Citadelian's head off with a starbolt. Through the window, he could see more Citadelians swarming through the doors two floors below. He swore before hurling himself into the fight.

Then he saw one of the Citadelians slip past her and turn his pike toward her back.

"Star!" Dick didn't think, he just reacted hurling himself between the charged pike. His gut burned as the blade sliced between the armor plates of his suit and into his kidneys. A starbolt blazed past his shoulder and the Citadel warrior was tossed back, his body blackened from the impact.

Dick glanced down and swallowed as he saw the tip of the pike peeking through his stomach. "Oh…" He gasped and staggered for a moment before falling onto his side. He coughed and felt blood running down his chin. "Not like this…" His eyes focused on the wound, watching as more and more blood poured out with each heartbeat. His vision swam, it was growing dark.

"Richard?" Star gasped and dropped to her knees beside him. "Richard!"

"Star?" He murmured… The world was starting to fade and he stared upward at her. He felt cold and his temple throbbed. "I'm sorry…"

"Why?" She asked.

"Because… I…" He gasped in pain and stared up at her. It wouldn't be long now… he could feel his life ebbing away. "I…" He forced himself to breath, she needed this… he needed this. If it was the last words he muttered on this earth, he needed to say them. "I love you."

Star's eyes dimmed and her pupils became visible for the first time to him since they'd been teens. Tears spilled from her eyes. "Richard?"

He tried to stay with her, he focused on her eyes, focused on her gaze, and then the darkness claimed the. The last thing he heard was her feral scream. "No!"

"He's going into cardiac arrest!" Cyborg shouted and leaned over Nightwing a pair of paddles charging in his hands. Beside him, M'gann concentrated and forced him out of the scenario, trying to jumpstart his mind while Cyborg worked on his body. "Clear!" Cyborg yelled and hit him with a jolt of electricity.

He jumped, a gasp for air echoed in the room and his eyes went wide. He stared up toward the ceiling and blinked at the glare. "What… where am I? Star?"

"You're fine… she's right beside you." Raven said from where she floated. "Hopefully we'll bring her out of it in a bit."

"Out of what?" Nightwing asked as his head throbbed and stomach gurgled. He sat upright and glanced at M'gann. "Oh hell… you… you all…"

"Died?" Raven asked. "We know… it didn't happen."

"What the hell?" Dick finally snapped as he saw Kori laying on the table with Raven, Beast Boy, and M'gann hovering over her. Tears streamed down her face which was scrunched into an unseeing snarl.

"There's a lot of anger in there…" Raven muttered. "She'll be dangerous when she wakes."

"What the hell is going on?" Dick snapped as he glanced around the room and then he froze. He saw M'gann looking rather distressed. His eyes suddenly widened and he glared between the Miss Martian and Black Canary. "No... You wouldn't dare!"

"Dick!"

"WHERE IS HE?" Dick yelled. "THIS IS HIS IDEA ISN'T IT? GOD DAMN FAILSAFE!"

Raven swallowed. "I'm sorry."

Starfire began to glow, green energy washed across her form and suddenly all of them stepped back.

"What's happening?" Cyborg asked.

Raven gasped. "She… she's discharging!"

"No…" Dick gasped. "No!"

Rage pulsed through her as her mind raced. She remembered, she remembered the boy that had removed her shackles, the boy that had taken her in… how she'd been naïve and foolish. How he'd helped her slowly adjust to the life she led. She remembered a wedding trashed, a breakup, a ritual…

"No!" She screamed in frustration and hugged his body to her as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No! No! No!"

She remembered the psychologists, the offers of camaraderie, the way she'd acted upon her return. Meaningless sex, meaningless lies… Her heart wept at what she'd become. She'd been broken… her heart, her soul had given up when Richard and her broke up and now… now he admitted it had been his lie, and then he'd died.

She couldn't live with that… her whole body trembled with energy as she saw more Citadelians waiting outside the beaten wreck of a building they had holed up inside. They didn't deserve to live, not anymore. Her fury reached new heights. The air around her shimmered with green energy. She poured every last ounce of her strength into one final blow, one final discharge.

The building exploded with green light, Dick's body vanished as it was incinerated. Her skin burned, and then he muscles screamed in pain. Every last nerve, every last cell of her body gave up all its energy into a nova of green light.

Then there was darkness.

Goodbye Richard, I love you too…