Robin ran down to the medical ward with Starfire close behind him. His heart was beating so hard he felt like it would explode as he pushed himself to run faster and his mind struggled to come to terms with what he had just heard. Another attack, another Titan…, was all he could think of, the sentence running through his mind in rhythm with his drumming heart. Please don't let her die too…

As they reached the ward, they saw Herald emerge from the door and slam it shut behind him. "Don't go in there!" He shouted, throwing out an arm to block their path as they both skidded to a halt on the shiny floor. "Raven's trying to heal her but I don't know if she can…she nearly stopped breathing on the way here and there was so much blood…God, so much blood…"

"Herald, tell me what happened!" Robin demanded as Herald sunk into a chair, still shaking. Starfire, seeing how traumatised he was, went and knelt in front of him. He looked up a little and his streaming eyes focused on her steady ones and they anchored him back to reality.

"Please, friend Herald," She urged him gently. "We need to know before…"

A sob caught in her throat as she pushed the thought from her mind. She wasn't gone, she's still here, she told herself. There was still hope. If Raven was trying to heal her, there was still hope. She watched Herald as he took a breath and started speaking.

"A little while ago, not long after the patrol started, Raven and I got the distress signal and we went to investigate, we were both on call for back-up. It was coming from one of the warehouse areas and when we got there it was really quiet, almost empty and so dark, we couldn't see a thing. Then Raven kept calling you and…we heard this noise like somebody was running away, I'm trying to remember…then we got around the corner and she was there…lying in a pool of blood with her eyes closed…I thought she was already dead…"

His voice ceased and he covered his eyes with his hands. Robin and Starfire looked at each other in dismay. "Did she have…" Robin started to ask but Herald nodded.

"She had this great big gash," He whimpered as he touched his throat and drew a line down to his navel. "All the way down her body…"

"Oh no." More tears leaked down Starfire's face as the gravity of what had just happened fully hit her. She stared at Robin as his mouth set in a grim line. This confirmed it; somebody was attacking and attempting to murder Titans. "Who could-"

"Guys!" A loud panting voice came from behind them and all three of them jumped. Cyborg ran into the room, his robotic limbs flailing as he stopped. "Guys, there was a distress signal and I can't find Jinx, she's not answering her communicator, where the heck did she go?!" He dashed out in panic as the three of them stared at him in disbelief.

"You don't kn-" Robin questioned but as he spoke, a loud scream came from the other side of the door that drowned out the rest of his words. It was a sound filled with the rawest of pain and it tore through the room, striking them all dumb. Cyborg's eyes went wide as he recognised the voice tearing at the centre of the scream and he seemed to freeze in the middle of the room. "No," He whispered as it died away and the silence deafened them. "That can't be…"

"Cyborg, what is going on?" Robin asked directly. "What happened to you? Did you get attacked, did you see who attacked her? Who was it?!"

"Yes Cyborg, who was it?!" Starfire stood up and beseeched him. Cyborg looked at them blankly before his body slumped over and his hands went to his face.

"I…I wasn't there, I-"

"You weren't there?! Where were you?!"

"Robin?" They all froze as somebody else sped into the room sending a breeze rippling through it, followed about a minute later by another figure in hot pursuit. Cyborg went pale as Robin turned around to see Kid Flash and Beast Boy standing in the doorway, both in boxers and t-shirts and looking quite alarmed. Beast Boy looked around alert whilst Kid Flash stepped forwards. "Robin, is everything OK? We were playing video games in the main room- we'll clear up later promise-and we heard this noise…" He looked at all their horrified faces and the confident look slid from his face.

"What?" He said in a more pressing tone just as another scream echoed through the room. This time it seemed to be much louder and more agonising and it lasted longer before fading away slowly then starting back up in a heart-wrenching crescendo. Robin knew there was no way they could deny who that was and turned back to his friend. "Wally…"

Kid Flash blanched as the screams washed over him. For a second that seemed to last far longer, he stood there swaying on his feet as he was forced to listen to the cries of his girlfriend. Then he was at the door, hammering on it with his fists, trying with all his might to pull it open whilst shouting her name.

"Jinx! Jinx! Jinx! Let me in, I need to see her! Jinx!"

"Wally, stop!" Robin ran over and tried to wrestle his friend away from the door but his strength was no match for his grief and Starfire had to come to his aid. They both dragged him from the door as he fought against them, still yelling. "Raven's healing her, she can't have any distractions or she will die Wally!"

They all went still as their fears were finally voiced and Kid Flash went limp in their arms. Robin could hear his ragged breathing in his ear as he glared at the door and said more calmly. "She's still alive Wally, she's still fighting. Hold onto that."

The room was still until Cyborg groaned. At the noise, Kid Flash seemed to come back to life and he whipped around to face him, his eyes narrowed. "Where were you?!" He demanded, stomping over to Cyborg and shoving him against the wall. In any other situation it would have been hilarious to see the skinny boy in yellow pushing around the giant robot man who towered head and shoulders above him but Cyborg refused to put up a fight and that only served to infuriate him more. "You should have been with her, you were meant to be protecting her, where were you?!"

"I was in the garage." Cyborg admitted with a heaving sigh. "There were some repairs that needed to be done on the T-car and I was running behind…Jinx came to see me just before we were meant to go on patrol and I told her I would be a while. She said it wouldn't be a problem, that she would make a start and I could join her later. I said it was against the rules but she told me she would go to the other side of town first, to the warehouse district because it was so quiet there…I promised to call her when I was done but I got no response and then the distress signal came through…"

"You were…making repairs?" Kid Flash sounded disgusted as he snarled through gritted teeth. "Whilst she was dying, you were making repairs?"

"Don't make it sound like that." Cyborg said scowling.

"What, don't make it sound like the truth?" Kid Flash spat back. "Don't make it sound like you didn't care at all? Because that's what it looks like to me!"

"Don't you dare tell me I don't care about her!" Cyborg snapped and they all sprang back except Kid Flash who glowered back at him with poison in his glare. He clenched his fist, as if about to fling a punch at him, and Robin stepped between them, forcing them to break their stand-off.

"Will you two listen to yourselves?" He fiercely ordered and they both averted their eyes. "This isn't some sort of contest, this is serious."

"You're right Robin." Kid Flash looked at him with fire behind his eyes. "This killer…he just made it personal."

"So it wasn't personal when Terra died, was it?" Beast Boy suddenly growled. He then stomped from the room. Starfire tried reaching out to him but he brushed her arm off and carried on without a backwards glance. Kid Flash looked after him guiltily. "That's not what I meant…"

"We know." Robin said shortly although he wasn't sure he did. "Anyway, we can't do anything for now. I'll send out Jericho and Kilowatt on patrol." He looked back at the door as the screaming subsided a little into long moans that reminded him of a wounded animal struggling in a trap. Kid Flash closed his eyes like he was trying to shut them out and tears caught on his eyelashes as he turned to the wall. "We can't do anymore for her. All we can do is wait."

Raven stumbled out of the room into an adjoining identical white room that was mercifully empty. She didn't think she could have kept herself together if she'd accidentally walked into the room that still had Terra in it. She was bent over with her arm feeling along the wall, letting it hold her up. She had never felt this weak in her life, it was like every ounce of her energy had been sucked from her and now her legs were wobbling with the effort of each uneven step. She collapsed against the wall and closed her eyes. It felt nice seeing only warm blackness and not the clinical white of the walls. Over the past few days it felt like she almost lived in this unforgiving ward. She would be perfectly happy never seeing it again when all of this was over.

It had taken all of her magic and all of her strength and more just to keep Jinx alive. At points it had only been her magic keeping her heart dully beating and that had terrified her. She had felt like she couldn't go on at some points, like she was on the verge of letting her go but then she would think about what this would do to the Tower-Jinx wasn't like Terra, somebody who had passed through and left only memories, she was an active and well-liked full member of the team with a boyfriend she was practically married to, friends who adored her…Terra's death had been destructive enough but Jinx's would be the beginning of the end.

She had left her still breathing but she knew they were not out of the woods yet. Jinx was alive but in a coma. She thankfully hadn't needed a life support machine but Raven couldn't be certain she would wake up. That was another terrifying thought; the fact that she may have not saved Jinx, only prolonged her death. She felt tears building up behind her eyes as she imagined losing one of her best friends…

As she refused to open her eyes, the image of Jinx's body on the ground outside that warehouse danced before her, mocking her. She had been mauled less than Terra-the killer had obviously had less time to play with her. They had still left their mark though; one long slash of deep red down the middle of her torso that started at her throat, ran through the middle of her breasts and down her flat stomach, ending at her belly button. There had been something different about that wound though…something she needed to tell her friends…

"Raven?" Her eyes snapped open and her heart twitched as she saw Beast Boy was standing in front of her. He was looking down at her with his head slightly tilted and worry filling his eyes. "Are you OK?"

"I'm…I'm fine." She stammered, feeling both frightened and elated at the same time. Her stomach churned as his green eyes bore into her face. Was he still mad at her? She wondered. He didn't look it.

"You don't look it." He said as he crouched down in front of her. She could see every detail of his eyes now, every fleck of colour in every hue of green imaginable. They were eyes you could so easily get lost in and she was oddly thrilled by the prospect. "If you don't mind me saying, you look awful."

She gave a laugh at that, leaning her head back before she realised he wasn't joking. "Thanks. Don't worry about me though." She told him. "I'm just tired, that's all. Healing Jinx…it took a lot out of me."

"I can imagine." Beast Boy properly sat down in front of her and his legs almost slotted into the gaps hers left, touching her but at the same time not. "She's going to be alright, isn't she? I saw Kid Flash when he heard her screaming…"

"That was…awful." Raven said, recalled how Jinx had rolled with the screams that she had had no control over, her body jerking as though her last energy was being poured into them. They stared at each other, words not doing justice to what they had seen their friends go through that night. "I hope she will be." She then said, her throat aching with holding back weeping. "She's fighting, I can feel it and she was still breathing…I've done all I can for her right now."

"Of course you have. You wouldn't do anything else for your friends." Beast Boy looked down at the floor and she could see he looked regretful. "About what I said yesterday…I'm really sorry. I never should have taken out all my anger on you, you were just doing what you had to. I know you care about people. You cared about Terra and you care about Jinx, about all of us."

He reached out and squeezed her hand and she smiled at him. "It's OK Beast Boy," She answered. "You were upset and you didn't mean it. None of us were quite ourselves." They shared a small smile for a moment before she frowned. Her head was getting heavier and she wasn't sure if she was going to have the strength to pull herself upright, let alone get back to her room yet she felt this urge to go find everyone and tell them what she had found usual about Jinx's injury. "I have to go find the other's," She said as she tried to stand up. "I need to tell them something…"

Before she was even fully standing up, her legs crumbled beneath her and she fell forwards before being caught by Beast Boy's strong arms that then pulled her upwards so he was cradling her.

"I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow." He told her as he started to walk away. "You really need to rest Raven we can't do a thing if you're this tired."

She tried to protest that she was fine but she felt too exhausted. It felt nice being in his comforting arms and she closed her eyes again as she enjoyed the beat of his footsteps. All too soon they were at her room and he was laying her down on the bed. By the time he plumped a pillow and put it under her head and drew her covers over her, she was fast asleep.

Beast Boy smiled down at her as he tucked her in. He was surprised by how little she looked in the sweeping folds of the bed, reminding him of a young child. He stroked some hair from her face and grinned when she murmured and softly smiled in her sleep. Without quite knowing why, he bent over and kissed her on the cheek, his lips lingering there for longer than he had planned.

"Night Rae." He whispered, making his way out of the room before she could wake up and tell him off for using the nickname. He closed the door behind him gently and made his way back to his own. I hope she's alright, he thought as he walked down the dimly-lit corridor. How will I cope if she's not here…?

Meanwhile Kid Flash was still standing outside the door that he realised by the morning would be called the door to Jinx's room. He felt like tearing it down or punching a hole in the wall but instead he kept himself as still as possible as he waited for Robin to allow him in. His heart felt like there was broken glass lodged in it; it hurt like hell yet he was scared to do anymore to damage it further. God, how long does he need? He thought. I'm not leaving, I have to see her…

As if by willpower alone, Robin appeared from behind the door. "She's in critical condition but she's stable." He finally said and Kid Flash felt relief flood through him. "I was just speaking to Beast Boy; Raven's gone to bed and there's nothing more she can do for now. You can come in but don't stay for too long, we'll need you in the morning."

Kid Flash barely listened to him as he zoomed past and went into the room. He closed the door behind him before turning around, ready for the worst. Even though he had known it would be bad, he was still shocked by what he saw. Jinx was lying on her back on the bed, a starched white blanket covering her up to the chest. Somebody, probably Raven he thought, had spared her dignity by taking off her torn bloodied dress and putting her in a hospital gown. Her eyes were closed and her expression was blank. The horns that her hair had been pinned up into now flopped forlornly on the pillow, the once vibrant neon colour now looking duller and darker in the white room. Her skin also looked greyer like she had been carved out of stone. Her choker had been broken in the assault and the shards of it lay on a little table next to the bed. Patterned on her neck now was a red line with dried blood around it like lace that trailed down her chest and disappeared into the hospital gown. He dropped into the chair that had been placed by the side of the bed ready for him and his first instinct was the grab her hand and check for a pulse. When he felt the light beat under her skin like the pattering of rain on a roof he let out a deep sigh of relief as he felt tears flow down his face.

"Jinx…" He whispered to her as he lay his head down on the pillow next to hers. He watched her face intently for any flickers of movement, any signs of life other than her shallow breaths but none came. "You have to be OK…you can't leave me like this, not now, we still have so much to do, we have to spent our whole lives together, you can't leave…"

He was certain she could hear him. He felt hopeless sitting there unable to reach her but he wasn't going to give up on her. "I'm not going away Jinx," He said in almost his old voice. "You know how stubborn I can be. I'll be right here…" He leaned over so his face was almost touching hers.

"I love you." He whispered in a voice so low and private only she could hear. His fingers linked with hers as his eyelids became heavy and he sank into the tiredness that overwhelmed him.

When the others came in in the morning they found him still like that, his body stretched uncomfortably from the chair to the bed, tears dried on his face and still holding her hand tightly like he would never let it go.

See, I'm not that cruel! Thanks for all the reviews so far-this chapter ended up longer than I thought it was and consider it a thank you. Please leave more, I do love feedback!