Volte-Face

I finished writing this at 6:13 this morning, before I went to sleep. I'm just that suh-weet.

Thank you…
foreveramutant
GabbyAndHerEnigmas
DL
Xment2bursX- The "bee-ing sneaky" part didn't really work out, so it's insinuated... (Darn.) She gets to "bee evil" next chapter though... And I love the sharing-the-bed idea. Roy should take Garth up on that offer, no?
Dancing through the Storm
kill the flamers- Indeed, the pairing needs more Grade-A love. (grin)
Desinere
APurpleAvacado
FREAKSHOW1- You know, I never pinned you as a 'Teen Titans' type of person... There's also something utterly ironic in the fact that, the very day you reviewed, I started a ReksVaan one-shot... (Whoa...)
Suger-Hype-Queen- In every multi-chaptered SpAqua story I've written (though most aren't posted), Roy ends up with a gun. For me, he'll never learn... xD

The thing to keep in mind from here on out (but more importantly, later on) is that Roy doesn't know anything about the vision, except that he will betray his team and shoot Garth… which isn't even really true. But that's what he thinks, and so he acts under that belief. Remember that.

Garth quotes valley-girl Cuddy in the first scene… (I just noticed.)

I always envisioned Robin and Raven having a very sweet, caring relationship, where they don't really need to talk to understand each other. Both are strong but also weak, with pasts they'd rather forget… I don't know. I suppose I just like Raven's character… Oh well… xD

((Insert random awe-inspired mention of Perry Moore's Hero here.))

Onward ho!

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
—Bertrand Russell

One of Garth's hands held the wooden spoon that idly stirred a pot of chicken-noodle soup. The other hand, though seemingly purposeless at his side, was simply waiting to catch Roy if he fainted. The archer looked pale enough to fall over, if it was any indication.

Truthfully, any part of Roy's current behavior could be an indication. He hadn't spoken, his skin was white and his eyes were glazed and unfocused. He had managed to hold his own until they reached the main room, at which point he collapsed onto a stool with more weakness than he let show.

"Speedy," Garth said quietly; Roy visibly tensed, startled. The redhead lifted his head from where it had been resting on his palm and slowly let his gaze drift to the Atlantean.

"Is something wrong?" Roy asked, tone too even to be normal.

"Yes, actually," Garth murmured. He regretted saying it as soon as the twitchy muscle in Roy's jaw tightened, bulging near his neck. He chuckled forcedly; "You need to get a bowl before you can eat…"

Roy pushed himself off the stool and rummaged to find a bowl and spoon. Garth watched him closely, catching the lethargy that weighed down his movements. He stumbled twice and, upon opening the silverware drawer, got lost in staring at the knives.

"Soup's done," Garth announced to distract him, switching off the burner. He found a potholder and set it on the counter, putting the pot atop it before finding an adequate ladle. "Wait, why—"

"You're eating too, aren't you?" the archer answered. He pushed the second bowl-and-spoon set closer to Garth, raising a brow.

A few minutes passed in silence, with only the clinking of spoons against porcelain as background noise. Roy kept his eyes on his food; Garth did the same, but with frequent glances at his teammate. The pallor of his skin was getting to be more natural, but it was obvious that the archer was still in mild shock.

"Can we talk?" Garth suddenly asked, putting down his spoon.

Roy's gaze jerked to meet his. "I don't know. Can we?"

"I can," he sighed. "But you won't. Speedy, you got away with not telling me before, and that was fine. But now, Raven's coming over unannounced, looking stunned and afraid—it's scaring me, actually. If something is bad enough that it makes Raven uncomfortable, or bad enough that it can leave you pale like this, you have got to tell someone what's going on."

Roy had become still, but now he was shaking his head. "It's nothing, I told you alre—"

Garth slammed his hand on the counter, making the dishes clatter in surprise. "No, you didn't tell me."

"Robin knows, Raven knows and I'm betting Star and Beast Boy and Cyborg know too, or at least they will soon. I'm sorry, but you can't do anything about it, and it's kind-of on a need-to-know basis as it is."

"What is it?" Garth sighed, frustrated. "You keep mentioning it but what is it?"

"I can't tell you! I don't know!" He let out an anguished moan, setting his head on the counter. "Goddammit," he breathed. "Now I have a headache."

The clack of pills against the counter was earsplitting. Roy opened one eye; "What are these?"

"Karen got you medicine for your cold when she went out to—"

"Bee!" Roy shot upright. "Don't tell me she went to Titans—"

"She went to Titans West," Garth said. "You saw Raven—she looked like a wreck—"

"No," Roy argued, standing, seemingly stable on his feet. "She went to Titans West to figure out who I'm in love with, not to help Raven get—"

"You're in love with someone?" Garth interrupted, catching the accidental reference to Roy's earlier conversation with Karen. "Really? Who?"

Roy simply groaned and made his way back to his room, letting Garth's suspicions run rampant.

It has to be Raven…

xXx

Hundreds of miles away, Karen was sitting in Robin's office, staring openmouthed at the Boy Wonder. "What?"

"He likes Aqualad, or at least he thinks he—"

"No, I heard what you said," she snapped, waving a hand to silence the other team's leader. "I don't believe it, that's what I meant. You've got to be kidding—"

Robin held up a hand, using the other to massage the bridge of his nose. "I realize that it's shocking, but as I said, he may only think he likes Aqualad."

"That boy's straight as the arrows he shoots with," Bee interrupted. "There's no way—"

"Bumblebee, please," Robin said. From across the room, Raven recognized it as his Authoritative Take-Charge Voice. "Let me explain first."

The winged leader nodded, finally silent; her eyes drifted to Raven, who was busy writing something out.

"Raven had a… a vision," he began, calling Karen's attention back to the main point. "And in it, Roy was… against the team," he said gently. "And he was in a—"

"Wait, stop," Karen muttered, raising her hand again. She looked Robin in the eye and pointed to Raven. "Let her tell it." Then she swept her eyes to Raven, solemn. "And tell me all of it. I don't want the abridged version if it has to do with my team."

Raven put down her pen and nodded, toying idly with the edge of the paper. "I had a vision, like Robin said, but I was asleep, so it was like a dream but seemed like a vision." Bee gestured for her to move on. "We were in a parking lot and it was dark, and it was raining." She closed her eyes, calling back the images. "Speedy was in the center of it, standing alone, yelling. At the edge of the parking lot, people were beginning to surround him. One group was us—the Titans, more than just East or West but honorary too—and another group was… well, the government, I suppose. Tanks, police cruisers…" She suddenly opened her eyes, grabbed the pen and scribbled something onto the paper. "There was a third group," she said slowly, checking over what she had written. "And it was Slade and his robots."

"And this was a vision?" Karen erupted, slamming her hand on the table at the mention of such a villain. "As in, this is going to happen?"

"Yes," answered Raven, while Robin simultaneously assured her with a loud, "No!"

Karen looked between the two. "Keep going," she finally said, setting her gaze on Raven.

"Like I said, Speedy was in the center by himself, yelling, and Garth was on the edge of the circle of people… but he wasn't with the Titans. He was by himself, sort-of, and he…" Raven's brow creased and she picked up the pen again, writing more. "He saw Roy and he became… nervous…"

"With good reason," Karen huffed, impatient. Robin could see her eyeing whatever Raven was writing on.

"But then, somehow, Garth was in the middle of the circle with Roy, on the ground—"

"'Somehow'?"

"Bee," Robin reprimanded, "let her tell the—"

"No, I want to know—"

Raven shook her head, stopping the quarrel. "I don't know how it happened. Visions come to me in pieces, as if labeled 'some assembly required'. Sometimes the pieces don't fit perfectly and leave gaps of time unseen." She shook her head again, apologetically this time. "I don't know why, or how, Garth went to Roy. But he did, and Roy knocked him on the ground—I didn't see that part either, before you ask—and then Roy had a gun pointed at Garth. But then…"

While she paused, deciding how to tell the next part, Karen attempted to form a reaction out of the blur of emotions. "What?" she hissed, just before Raven spoke again. "I know he's an ass sometimes, but what hell has to freeze over for him to shoot—fuck!" She stood and stormed violently down the meeting room, kicking over a chair at the head of the table. It fell with a crash and she ignored it, turning irately toward the other Titans. "You saw this? All of this?"

"Karen," Raven said quickly, "Roy didn't fire the gun, you need to know that."

The news made her knees buckle; she sank into the nearest chair with relief. "So Garth turned out okay, right?" She caught the expression on the Westers' faces and was on her feet again, palms jammed flat atop the table. "What does Roy do?" she hissed.

"Nothing," Raven sighed. She met Karen's desperate eyes and said, clearly and delicately, "Slade… also had a gun. And he shot Garth."

"Why?" Karen screeched. "Slade has nothing against him! And—wait, where did he shoot him?"

"The chest…"

"So it might not be fatal," Karen reasoned, tapping on the table now. "Right?"

Both of the other Titans had the same expression, but Robin was the one who answered. "A non-fatal wound is, at best, unlikely." He crossed his arms and looked at the floor. "I'm speaking from personal experience when I say this, but anyone who has dealt with him could tell you—Slade is a calculated, precise man. From that distance, with a still target, using his own weaponry…" Robin simply shook his head. "The odds of Garth surviving are—"

"No! Stop it!" Karen hit the table again. "Why should Slade want to kill Garth?"

"That's the big question," Robin murmured. "Why should any of this happen?"

"I'm trying to figure that out right now," Raven said, catching them both off guard. She held up the piece of paper she'd previously been writing on and waved them closer.

The paper had a web of words and phrases, linked together with lines and arrows. In the center was 'Speedy,' with 'Gov't,' 'Slade,' 'Titans,' 'Garth' and 'Gun?' branching off from it. Everything but 'Titans' had notes scribbled beside it. Extra notes, like Roy's appearance, surrounded 'Speedy.'

Karen tapped the broken heart Raven had drawn over the line connecting 'Speedy' and 'Garth.' "You really think he has feelings for the kid?"

"Not by this point," Raven sighed, gesturing toward the chart's events, "but yes."

"You think so too?" she asked Robin.

The Boy Wonder hesitated, but nodded. "He was going on about… feelings. And he was making a fool of himself, talking about it—and then he let slip that no, he doesn't think he's gay; his type isn't men, but rather his type is Aqualad. He got mad when I started laughing, and… honestly, I don't think he would have subjected himself to humiliation, or gotten so angry, if he wasn't… harboring something for Garth. But," Robin said in a contradictory tone, "he's also Roy, the womanizer himself. And then there's this vision—what if he is imagining feelings, because—"

"No," both Karen and Raven said at once. They glanced at each other and Karen spoke first.

"He got a phone call—from Raven, actually—and after he was talking, I accused him of being in love with a Titan. And he said he 'wouldn't call it love,' but he was blushing, and he half-confirmed that he was talking to you Westers so much because you girls knew her—or I guess, him—better than anyone…" Abruptly, she let out a laugh. "And he said you boys would be too embarrassed to talk about it—which would make sense…"

Robin let a smile fall across his face. "I don't know about that," he chuckled. "Beast Boy might be willing to talk. He already bought gay porn for Roy…"

"On his own whim," Raven added when Karen raised a brow. "And he actually made Starfire purchase it. But, Karen, that phone call—where was he standing?"

"Observation deck, why?"

The mystic smirked. "Could he see the pool?"

"Very clearly. He was by the edge, and… why?"

Raven looked at Robin. "Roy literally stopped listening to me for a few seconds because he was watching Garth get out of the pool. If that's not some level of physical attraction, I—"

"What if," Karen began, grabbing the pen, "Garth went to Roy because he still cared about Speedy?" After adding a full heart below the broken one on the Speedy-Garth line, she branched off 'Garth' and wrote, 'still cares about Speedy.' Silently, she added 'unafraid' to that and then 'trusting.' Writing deliberately big, she made another line off that and scrawled, 'returns feelings?'

"It's possible," Raven murmured.

"Hold on," Karen interrupted, tapping the only other line that branched from 'Garth.' "You wrote that he was nervous and had an increased pulse, jagged breath… but if you saw that, how do you know…?"

"I was Garth, for a time." Raven laughed when Karen's lips turned into a confused frown. "Visions can be shown as if I'm some omnipotent god, or I can actually be the people in them. I was Garth when he first saw Roy, and I was Slade when he…" Suddenly Raven's vision blurred with tears and she could feel her finger tighten on the trigger, feel the recoil of the gun shake through her body.

"Raven?" Robin was beside her quickly, turning her away from the chart, walking her a few steps forward. "What's wrong? You're shaking…"

"A-am I?" She looked down at her hand in Robin's and saw it trembling. "I'm s-s-sorry, I-I just… I just remembered that I… I shot… I'm f-fine, Robin…"

"No, you're not," he sighed, pulling her closer. She was shaking against his chest, her breath coming in tight gasps on his shoulder. Robin put a hand on the back of her head, holding her waist with the other arm. His eyes found Karen across the room and he pursed his lips.

"Karen," he said, both excusing her and making her pause. "You can talk to Roy about Garth"—Raven's grip tightened on his arm at the name—"but don't tell Garth"—she dug her fingernails into his skin—"about Roy, and it is of the utmost importance that you keep everything about the vision from both of them." He ran short, comforting strokes down the back of Raven's head as her breathing turned to gasps and hiccups. He let out a string of soft assurances, tightening his arm around her before addressing Karen again. "We'll contact you later today. Travel safely."

She nodded, grabbing her bag and leaving in silence.

As soon as the door closed, Robin tried to pull away from Raven enough to look at her. "Shh," he whispered, humming out a breath. "What did you remember?" He tried to step back but she stayed with him, arms thrown around his waist, her hands clutching the back of his shirt in desperation. She hid her face against his chest, eyes turned away from his. "Raven?"

"I was," she paused, "Garth. At first. And then I was… Slade, and I… I felt him"—she gasped in another breath—"pull the t-trigger." The entirety of her slight frame quivered. "And I d-don't even know where I—he—my shot hit G-Garth, but I was… satisfied."

Robin felt her grow weaker and hummed again. "And if you had been in control, that would be a problem. But you were Slade, Raven, and you couldn't stop that, and I know you of all people would never hurt Garth." Her tremors were beginning to ebb, her tears subsiding. He rested his head on hers, turning to set a light kiss against her temple. "You're the most loyal, protective friend he could have," he continued softly. "So just remember that, and you'll…" He felt her head fall limply against his collarbone and smiled, easily sweeping an arm under her knees, lifting her from the floor. Her breath was even on his neck and her fingers curled unconsciously around the fabric of his shirt.

Robin was in the doorway when a thought hit him—satisfied? Slade had been satisfied that Garth was hit, but he hadn't paid attention to where the bullet struck?

But he glanced back at the chart on the meeting room's table and then looked down at Raven's tear-streaked expression of peace, and without hesitation picked the latter.

(I'll see you in 2008! Have a good New Year!)