A/N: Week break between exams. Won't be back for a while, again. I really do miss this fanfic writing stuff though.

Read and review people! Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Brrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggg….

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg….

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNGG…!!!!!!

"Ugh!"

Raven threw the communicator on the floor in frustration, the cold numbing her senses and her anger setting light to her nerves. Why wouldn't he pick up, dammit? She had called him over and over again and still nothing. No one picked up. No one.

She sighed, staring at her communicator aimlessly and then staring back at the blank screen of the TV once more. Her deep-violet hair lay limply on her forehead and the rest of it was swept aside roughly as not to bother her; she wanted to cut it, badly, but she didn't know anyone or anything here. Truth be told, even Dick was a stranger in his hometown, even more so than when he started irritating everyone in Jump City.

Her eyes found themselves looking at the communicator once more and she shook her head; Vic wasn't going to pick up if he didn't pick up the last three or four days. Neither was Kori but by Azar she needed someone to talk to; anyone! Of course the obvious person was unavailable—in their current situation, anyway—and even if he was available, she wasn't sure how to address what she was doing and why; she herself wasn't so entirely sure about that.

Raven picked up the remote and started flipping through the channel; she hadn't watched real television in a long time and though she didn't really want to, there was really nothing to do in this city other than getting mugged. Really.

She missed him and she was exhausted. Gotham didn't suit her, it dried up all her empathic powers and it reeked of sadness and anger and pain, some ancient and some new. Only Azar would know what happened if she actually stepped outside instead of cooping herself in their small apartment. Their small, dusty apartment; Raven figured that neither Barbara nor Dick was adept at cleaning, though that was quite surprising since Dick had been paranoid of dust ever since Slade's mask incident. That wasn't a pretty situation for anyone and a repeat of that, especially now, would be fatal; she couldn't—and wouldn't—imagine it.

Raven just…she just missed him. Badly. She wanted him to be here with her but it was impossible, both their minds were made up and as malleable as they seemed, they were hard as steel under the surface. Not just them too exclusively, now that she thought about it, but everyone in the team. Steel; cold, hard and durable.

Suddenly, she turned around, aware of the presence brooding behind her. It was still angry and frustrated but at the same time it was curious and worried and she knew in that second that she would meet with the piercing blue eyes of Dick Grayson. Just Dick Grayson and yet the mask was still there; it sometimes made her wonder…

"Hey." His voice was husky and coarse and yet…a little sad.

She was too—sad, she meant—and they both knew why, "Hi. How is Babs?"

Dick cracked a smile at her but his eyes stayed focus, "Sleeping. She got so tired after arguing with her dad about stuff that she fell asleep as soon as she got home."

Raven nodded, "That's good then. How's your week been?"

His brow rose, "Surprising…unpleasant…awkward…happy. You know how it's been."

"I do know." She nodded again, understanding his implications.

"Yours?"

She smirked, the upper corners of her lips lifting almost devilishly, "Quite similar in those aspects. My back has never been so abused."

His eyes lit up and she could see the young leader that she had met all those years ago, "I reckon that our couch would do that. It's old, I think as old as Alfred."

"Nothing is as old as Alfred, I think, nor as pleasant."

It was his turn to nod, "True."

Silence invited himself rudely into their conversation and both persons pursed their lips in uncertainty, grabbing at each other's bond uncomfortably. She wondered whether or not Wisdom's method was actually working, but she reckoned that it needed time to reach its full potential. Raven wondered what they would both feel like after their bond had finally been broken; would they feel at loss? Would they rejoice? Or would they feel so empty that they would try to replicate those sensations once more? There was no way of knowing, no way, really.

"Raven." He paused before continuing, and she knew what he was going to say, "All jokes aside and all tensions aside…can I sit down?" He indicated at the couch and she merely nodded.

For a moment, they both sat down in silence, hands in their laps, eyes darting from side to side anxiously. He was going to speak first.

Finally, he looked at her, "Raven…are you OK?"

It was her turn to raise her brow, though she knew that he noticed how her mouth drooped a little, "Dick…you've asked that to me a million times. I'm fine."

"Like hell you are, Raven…your insides are just waiting to explode. If I didn't know that you were human, I'd reckon that you were going to spontaneously combust anytime soon."

"Ha…ha Dick. So funny, I am laughing inside." She scrutinised him, his brow relaxing and her eyes gaining access to that little bit of him that he didn't let her in for the past few days…and months.

Raven sighed, her head finding solace in the palms of her hand, "I'm just exhausted Dick. Immensely exhausted." That was the truth, or at least part of it, "Taking care of others drains you. You should know that."

He paused, his fingers suddenly tapping at his thigh absently, his dark, almost brooding, brows furrowed together as if questioning his own motives. He wanted to ask her things, and she knew what it was, but he let it lie for a while, and tapped away absently; neither annoying nor comforting either.

"Who were you calling just then?"

"Vic." She shrugged, not caring about what she was saying, "I needed to talk to someone and he's never been one to turn down a conversation."

That tiny wrinkle in his brow deepened, and Raven felt her stomach tighten, "Have you called Gar yet? Does he know that you're here?"

She hesitated for a moment, and Raven knew that hesitation was fatal, and so did he. There was a surge of concern for her as she took those two seconds worth of a sigh, and his hand looked like they itched to reach out…but they didn't. There were still boundaries between them, and since he was the person who set them up, he wasn't going to be the first person to tear them down.

"Will you call him?"

Raven shook her head, "No." Her lips pursed together harshly, and the pressure pained her, "No…and…Dick, I'm sorry but what do you care? He hates your guts right now and I have a hard time believing that you're fond of him at this very moment."

That seemed to shock him a little bit, though not so much, and it was eerie how perfectly he mirrored her in terms of the lip-pursing action, "We might not be the best of friends right now but we were, and that's what counts." He smiled, though it was weary, "Plus, I think that we both have your best interests at heart. You're a part of me, Raven, literally and figuratively. Family helps where family can."

"Family doesn't abandon family either." He seemed to want to react to that comment, but she stopped him, the palm of her hand firmly in front of his face, "But I figure that that's not what you wanted to talk to me about."

"No. No it isn't."

"Then what is it?"

He frowned, "Raven…did something happen between you and Gar…?"

Raven took a good look at him and sighed, never doubting a single word of his as they were wrapped gently in sincerity despite all the hardness that he had tried so hard to build upon them. Dick was in there somewhere…no…Dick was right there in front of him, but he just…transformed…and was manipulated and twisted by past and present events. His personality was even more malleable than people thought it was and she of all people knew that; even Kori—she suspected—didn't know how much of her impacted the way he thought and the way he worked, and really, it was as much their fault as it was his that Dick was the way he was now.

He was still a good person though, she couldn't deny him that. He found solace in creating new relationships with other people and maintaining them and like every member of the team, he wanted nothing more than the company of others…with a catch, though; he was the one responsible for the safety and the well-being of others and he held that responsibility quite tightly in his grip and for some reason…it shattered and crumbled into dust.

"Nothing particularly exciting." She stated blandly, tasting the lie on her tongue.

He sighed, "Lying to me doesn't really work you know? The bond, remember?"

"How could I forget?" She mumbled but it was unheard by him, "We just had…a conflict of interests and…"

"And you guys broke up? Right?"

She rolled her eyes, "And the world's second greatest detective gets it again." Her words were sharp, and she intended for them to be so, "I would've thought that you'd figure it out sooner."

"I did…kinda. I knew that something big happened between you two. I just didn't know…what." He pursed his lips, his blue eyes no longer brooding and more…contemplative, "Are you OK? What happened?"

"We just…" she smiled, though she had no idea why it had appeared so suddenly on her lips, "we just couldn't really handle it anymore, I guess. There was just too much." It was the truth, or as close to it as she wanted to go.

"Too much what? I thought you two were doing fine." He stated, echoing what Kori had told her a couple of days ago, "You guys loved each other. The guy was nuts over you and he would've done anything for you. I think you would have done the same."

"If only." She frowned, her hands tapping away on her lap, "We just…with the team being unstable and all, we just couldn't juggle it all together. We had priorities to the team, at least until it was all over, and we wanted to make it work."

Raven watched as his mouth twisted in a way that panged at her heart, "You're not a very good liar, Raven, and that was a huge lie." She felt as the bond worked for him and he tried to sort out through her emotions, something he wasn't so skilled at as he wasn't a natural empathy, but he was still doing it, and Raven knew that he got the gist of what she was feeling and what might have had happened, "Yea, I admit, the team is having our troubles," he paused long enough for her to glare at him, "but knowing you and Gar for all these years, you guys would've both pulled through. You're both stubborn like that."

"Look who's talking."

He grunted, "I get it OK? I'm an idiot and a jerk but I can't undo the things that I've done and the consequences of it all…but I'm not worried about that, not now. I just…look…as selfish as I'm being right now—and don't you dare say that you don't think what I'm doing now is selfish—what you're doing right now is selfish too. You just broke up with the team, split to Gotham and tried to get me back to Jump so that the Titans will be back to playing happy families again. It's just not gonna…it's not gonna work like that." Dick shook his head, "I just want to know why you're doing all this when you could be…"

"Could be doing what? Nothing, Dick. We are in shambles, and yes, I do have selfish intentions with bringing you back…but even those selfish intentions have some kind of after effect—in a good way—on the others. We're just exhausted…I'm just exhausted. I broke up with Gar and…"

"Why, though? Why? I don't get it. I know you two like the back of my hand—especially you, Raven—and there is in no way that you broke up with him and then coincidentally went all the way to Gotham city. It just doesn't make sense. You, of all people, work on logic and reason and it's just unreasonable to leave the team when its foundations are…crumbling."

Raven frowned and raised a brow at him, and though she knew how he was interpreting it, she wished that she didn't. Really, it was such a hassle being tied to a bond that had long served its purpose and was wasting away—no!—feeding on what was left of them. Raven remembered that moment like it was yesterday and she wished, she really wished, that she had tried to learn it properly and to understand the consequences and not pass it up. It was atypical of her to do so, but at that time everything seemed urgent and Dick was their friend…and friends didn't leave friends to go completely insane with delusions and such.

At that moment, she decided that it was OK to give in.

"We broke up because…" she paused, not really knowing how to go on about it, "of a lot of things. Yea, we loved each other but that wasn't enough…you should know that." She waited for him to nod before promptly continuing, "Listen Dick…have you noticed anything strange with the…the bond recently?"

Dick frowned, his brows connecting forcefully and his mouth twisting distastefully, "No…I don't think so…not that I know of."

She sighed, not knowing whether to be glad that the process wasn't too far along that he noticed it or bothered by the fact that he—who had one of the most acute senses for someone who was just human—didn't notice it at all…

"Except," he paused, and she knew that her empathic powers encouraged him to go on, she wanted to know whether or not he had picked up on it and what she would feel if he did. "except that I feel…closer to you somehow, Raven. Like we're intermeshed together." He interlocked his fingers to demonstrate this course of action, "Like…I dunno…now that you mention it…I…it's like…I dunno how to explain it."

He looked up at her and when she didn't say anything, she saw—no, felt—his frown deepen to cause more permanent damage on his already hard face. Her thoughts didn't pick up as quick as they were able to a long time ago, but she was able to pick up his thoughts and feelings much quicker—much, much quicker—than of her own. Maybe his realisation was a bad thing, maybe it only developed the bond even more. She didn't know how that would have been possible but…but she wasn't as skilled as she had always thought she was and any symptoms could well be natural. If only she had studied more…if only she wasn't so arrogant about her own skills…

He coughed, and she felt a pang in her own chest.

Raven didn't have any intention of telling him about their sick bond when she was headed towards Gotham, all she thought about was how she could convince him to come back and how everything would neatly—though she knew that it would all be a lie—come back to become normal once and for all. She actually never wanted him to know, she thought that it would put an even bigger burden on their friendship, but she knew that she owed him the truth, at the very least, on something as fickle as her relationship in regards to a much larger, more dangerous event.

"Dick…" she placed a hand on his lap, "what happened when you felt it? When I broke up with Gar? What happened?"

Dick frowned, "Don't change the subject—"

"I'm not. Trust me. What happened?"

"It just…it just hurt, Raven. Physically, mentally…I felt like crying." He took a moment to take in what he had said before continuing, "As a matter of fact, Raven, I did cry. I didn't bawl or anything like that…I just…I just remember my cheeks being wet. Shit, Raven, it felt like someone had twisted a knife into me."

Raven smiled; it was sad, "And yet we were two cities apart. Not even cities that are close to each other…and it felt so real, right? Like it was you who was being hurt, right?"

"Yea…exactly that." The words were hazy but she saw how his eyes suddenly went sharp; suspicious and alert, "Why, Raven? What the hell is happening?"

She paused, nibbling at her lower lip, "Do you remember? Do you remember when I first instilled that bond between us?"

He nodded.

"What did it feel like?"

Dick frowned, his chin on his fist and she had to fight the urge to the do the exact same thing, "It felt like…it felt like someone or something had jumped into me. I froze for a few seconds, I didn't really know what was going on but…it was like someone else was watching me." He shook his head, "I remember being creeped out and…violated." He threw her a look but she shrugged, she knew how he felt about it in the past and though she was indignant before, it was nothing now, "The fact that you could feel what you were feeling and vice versa isn't normal and me being me, I was very wary about the abnormal."

"Crude," Raven smiled, though she felt it slip away as soon as it was put away, "but very descriptive and very precise. It is exactly like that and my initial purpose of instilling the bond was to see through your perceptions and to share my strength and—at that particular moment—my sanity. Except now…"

Dick pursed his lips and she felt it when e finally understood, "It's getting stronger, isn't it? And it's not supposed to? Or you didn't know about these particular consequences."

Right at that moment of clear, precise realisation, she felt—and she knew that he felt—a jolt pulse from the bond, almost as if it was signalling to them that it was aware of their consciousness and now that it didn't have to hide anymore, it was working harder than ever to make it stronger, firmer and more robust. There seemed to be an underlying sense of slyness to it but there was no menace at all. It all seemed innocent enough on the surface, but she knew that even Dick—probably especially him—knew how much the bond was going to hurt and how much it was going to affect them as two individual persons.

The pulse increased as he reached out to her, as if trying to figure out to what extent this bond's limits went. It suddenly solidified and stretched as he pulled his hand away from her. The bond had non-physical properties but it didn't mean that it didn't feel real or solid and the way that it still felt fluid while feeling utterly concrete bothered Raven; it was as if the malleable properties of the bond was a live and was trying to trick her into thinking that she had control over the bond because…she didn't…not really.

"What's going on, Raven?"

Raven twirled a piece of stray hair in front of her face and murmured random words to herself before finally looking him in the eye and finding herself eerily looking at an almost doppelganger of her own aura, "Your intermeshing theory was correct but its more than that." She paused, trying to figure out what the right words would be, "But it's more than that, way more than that. It's like…we're not merely intermeshing—if we were to intermesh, we would still be accounted for as individuals—but we are becoming…one. Not physically, as those cases are rare, but mentally and this may be even more dangerous than if we were to be joined physically; at least that way we would still have two minds but…but in this case? I am losing my identity to you and you are losing it to me…we are becoming one identity, one mind…one—dare I say it?—soul." She bit her lip as his own gaze grew sharper by the minute, "Can't you feel it? Doesn't my every action invite you—no, compel you—to do the same? Don't you feel my emotions as raw as they would be yours? This is not supposed to happen, Dick, we are supposed to feel and identify each other but not to this extent! Not like…Dick," Raven stopped, pulling her gaze upwards, "I don't know what to do…"

She almost regretted telling him about it, but then decided not to as it was the right thing to do. It made an immense impact on Dick and she felt how his chest clenched at her confession; you could hear a pin drop in the total silence that they were both submerged in. Raven noticed how he was clenching and unclenching his fists in frustration and she felt his thoughts buzzing in her own brain, though none were so clear as to actually tell her what his thoughts actually were.

"Well, we're in trouble, aren't we?" He shook his head, disbelief running through his systems wildly, "Is there any way to reverse this?"

"There is…and it's in process." She spoke shortly.

He grimaced, his hands reaching out to his brow ridge, "Is that the reason why you broke up with Gar?"

"Partly." Raven stopped, her hands in front of his face, "I mean…we had issues but yes, admittedly, yes your presence provoked our break up even more." Her mouth was moving but she couldn't hear any words come out, "He doesn't know about it though. I didn't tell him and he…he didn't need to know. He has too much on his mind already." She knew that he noticed how her fingers kept interlocking haphazardly with each other.

"Why'd you do it? What do I have to do with the bond? I mean…it's not interfering with anything, is it?"

"No. More like…more like my relationship with Gar was interfering with the bond." She sighed, and cupped her hands as if she was expecting something, "I…we were—you and I, I mean—were both intensely in love with our partners and…and that feeling we shared? The love? It was too similar and even before that we were already bonding with each other tightly. I loved Garfield almost as much as you loved Kori and that love was identical, almost like we reached that particular stage at the same time." Her fingers interlocked once more to show Dick how it was, "The only way that we could've stopped—if not, slowed down—the bond was if one of us stopped loving in that way. It didn't have to be that we stopped loving a particular person in that way—no—we just had to…we just had to stop loving." She smiled, a ghost of a smile, and for a moment there, she knew that he thought that it was almost beautiful, "I couldn't ask you to do it…not after your what happened with Barbara and after the way you and Kors broke it off and I…I knew it was time for us anyway because of what Garfield's got in his hands right now. I just…"

She left her sentence hanging and looked up into Dick's crystal blue eyes. For once, they weren't hard and yet the softness that she saw was as familiar as the way his brows furrowed every time he was faced with a dilemma. It was hard to look away when you knew that you were looking at someone who looked almost exactly the same as you do, expressing emotions that were yours and yet weren't. Her mind was confused on whether or not she was looking into a mirror, and she had to pinch herself from entering Dick's mind and embracing them as her own. She didn't want that; not now, not ever.

Suddenly, she felt a twitch and she knew that it came from Dick. His expression became steel once more and it almost hurt to feel at his aura.

"But there was another way, wasn't there? You took the noble way instead of the selfish one." He sounded angry, well, almost angry, and his tone pierced through her ice-cold skin harshly.

Raven glared at him defiantly, angered that he could take such offense, "I did what you always do. I took the high road. At least," she growled, "at least I took the road that you would've taken before all…this."

"Raven I…"

"I know, OK, I know…we're talking about me and not you…but it involves you too, you know! I didn't want to hurt you and I didn't want us to break apart more than we've already done and so yes, sue me if I did the noble thing instead of the thing that would've pleased me most." Raven exclaimed pointedly at him, "Look at what you've chosen and look where it's gotten us!"

His emotions jumped back a little, but not so much that she thought he was frightened. No, he was just getting ready to prepare himself for whatever was going to come. He was just getting ready for her tirade, and for his defence, if need be.

"So what was the other way?"

She exhaled deeply, "It is ancient, as the techniques of the bond is, and dangerous if not done the right way. It's deep, dark complicated magic that might render you, me or both of us dead."

"How?"

"If I can cut it off then we will be free and we will both be able to be individuals again but…but at the same time there's a risk that one of us will feel…empty…soulless and just a…shell, because we've been attached for so long that we need that other person's emotions to fulfil us and make us feel…alive. Not only feel…quite literally we need our partner's emotions to keep us running. This in itself, though it sounds like ridiculously philosophical mumbo jumbo and utterly harmless, is extremely dangerous. Every living being has that something that keeps it running, whether it is an external factor or an internal factor and after it has become accustomed to a certain amount, it cannot keep on running until it has that particular amount fulfilled. We would've been left catatonic and no amount of life support will keep us alive."

Raven watched as he brushed his fingers through his jet-black hair, "But those are the consequences if you do do it right. What if you get the spell wrong? What happens then?"

"You die." She said shortly, "I might die, though it might happen long after you die since I have magical abilities."

"You're not beating around the bush then."

She raised a brow at him, "You know I never do that."

"I know."

"And you know that I stay by my decisions through thick and thin." She pointed at him, as if accusing him of thinking otherwise, "We will get through this. I swear by Azar, we will." She didn't know if she was talking about herself or about him or both.

"And if we don't? What then? What happens if despite all your efforts and all your," he took a deep breath, "sacrifices…we still end up as one? What happens if—?"

"It won't! I won't let it. I've gone through too much—we've gone through too much—to let it all go to waste. I'm exhausted….you're exhausted…we're all exhausted…we can't handle more." Her breathing steadied as she pushed her emotions under control, "I'm exhausted. I just can't…we're all just messed up Dick and you know what's the worst part about it?" Raven waited for him to shake his head as she knew he would, "I can't blame you for it. It's like it was predestined or something and we just got so arrogant about being in control that it just…backfired on all of us."

There was a moment of silence before Dick piped up, "I hate growing old."

"You think?" She cracked a smile, nudging him in the ribs with her elbows, "And to think we thought teenage dramas were complicated."

He laughed; hollow, coarse and beautiful, "We were fearless back then and now…I'm scared shitless, Raven. We're never going back to how we used to be."

"No…" she laughed, it was horrible, "No, things won't go back. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I've promised."

Raven continued laughing until she felt her heart clench so hard that it hurt. It wasn't right to laugh, not now, not like this. Her cheeks felt hot and her limbs felt weak and none had anything to do with affection or passion or love; it was too alien to be any of this. Her heart pumped loudly in her ears and that tiny, almost unrecognisable, pulse in her thumb was now throbbing so hard that she didn't know what it was at first. And in the end of all that, she recognised that her cheeks were moist and she was…she was crying.

Crying.

Once she realised this miserable fact, she also realised that the damned tears just wouldn't stop. They just kept going and going and going and at that point she knew that Dick was fighting back tears too.

Bitter, salty, thick tears.

Stop.

Don't stop.

Don't…don't…don't…

Please stop.

Please stop.

Please stop.

Please stop.

Don't stop.

Raven felt strong, robust arms encircle her and then the sensation vanished and she was one with herself. The hug was comforting, in a sense, but she wished for it to be Garfield's arms around hers, Garfield witnessing and wiping away her tears. Not Dick. She didn't feel comforted with Dick…she just felt open and vulnerable and…herself. She wanted someone to be there to tell her—from a different person's perspective—that it was OK to cry and that it was OK to breakdown in tears. Not Dick. Not Dick.

Not Dick.

She didn't feel safe because she knew that he didn't know what to do either. He couldn't handle it as she could and vice versa. Raven felt his own tears against her head and the thud of his heart was similar to her own. Her empathic powers convulsed wildly and she recognised his hurt, his guilt, his sorrow…his love…his sadness…his emptiness. She recognised it and she fought against, fought it so hard that it hurt and that it brought on more tears. She wanted to curl up in a corner by herself, she wanted to harden herself up some more, create that barrier that she used to hold onto so strongly…but she couldn't. Not now, not like this, not when her vulnerability felt so salient and yet so…insignificant.

Stop.

"I just…I didn't want to lose anyone. I didn't want to lose you or Kori or Vic or…or…" her voice was hoarse and yet her throat didn't itch for water, "…I didn't want to lose Gar. I don't want to lose Gar. I love Gar…I love him."

He patted her hair down, awkwardly and softly, "I know you did. I know you do."

"I'm exhausted Dick. So exhausted." She whispered, "All I want to do is stop doing whatever I'm doing and sleep for a long, long time. Why doesn't it end, Dick?" Her whispers were fruitless.

She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and for the first time in a long time, she quite literally felt it. Her bones ached and her muscles wept. She did love him. She did. She does.

"It doesn't. You know it, I know it…we just ignore it. All our efforts are fruitless when it comes to dealing with fate and even if it does work…it refuses to work in our way." Dick continued to smooth down her hair and though all she could see was the other side of the room, she knew that he was still crying; his aura was wet, "We just have to work with the leftovers and the leftovers suck, Raven."

His embrace was warm and rigid all at the same time. She wanted him to let go, she couldn't handle the emotional build up, not this way; please let go.

Dick continued to hold her this way, to pat her hair down in some attempt to calm her down and to calm himself down. She found her arms curling around his shoulders as his remained on hers and she felt how his shoulders finally sagged under the pressure of her feather-light arms. Both seemed to not be able to let go and yet both knew that they had to. Their minds were jumbled and their words garbled and none seemed to know what belonged with whom and for once, they didn't seem to care.

"Let's go home, Raven." He suddenly whispered, "Gimme a week and then let's go home." Raven felt his eyelids close over his blue eyes, concealing whatever scarce emotion he revealed with them, "We need to break this thing off, Raven, and I know that you can't do it here." His lips moved wordlessly, "Let's go home."

"I want to. But I can't." She closed her own eyes, "I can't break the bond off, Dick. I can't. I can't risk it." She shook her head against his shoulder, "I'm not good enough."

"You have to. You can't go on like this. I know you can't. I'm not saying you're not a strong person, Raven, I'm just saying that even strong people can be selfish." He sighed, "If you don't want to, do it for me. I want to do it. I want to do it for you. I want to do it for the team." His eyes opened again, and once again, Raven didn't see it, "I have to make amends. I don't want to, but it's the right thing to do."

She didn't say anything and he nodded, "Let's go home, Raven."

Raven felt herself nod as he let go of their embrace, his face shining with tears, his aura bitter with emotions. She didn't know why she nodded, but she did, and she left it at that as he moved away from her and back to his room, where Barbara awaited him. His presence lingered in the living room and for a minute, she thought that she could physically grasp it, though she knew that she was quite mistaken.

As soon as she saw him leave, she felt the tears stream down again, with what emotion, she wasn't so sure. She had done what she came to do here, she had gotten him to go home, but she didn't want it to happen this way, not with her being vulnerable and open. She had wanted to place the blame on him, to force him and instead, he was coming back with his own feelings quite vulnerable to her, and if this continued, to everyone else he knew. It was dangerous, and that was why she didn't want it to come to this. It was never her intention to break down like that...never with all her pride bared right down before him. Raven felt weak and yet her intuition told her that she wasn't. She felt naked and cold and still it told her that she wasn't.

It didn't matter anyway. She had realised midway through the conversation that she had lost Garfield and she couldn't get him back.

The bond would break…but it wouldn't get him back.

A/N: Don't forget to review! See you next time!