Sarah: OMG thankou thankou thankou! I agree they're sooo freaking cute xD

Guest: I feel so weird not knowing your name lol but first of all, thankou for that long review! I love receiving short and sweet ones obviously but I LOVE long ones, they make me feel like I'm having a conversation haha honestly it's surreal to me that people spend time thinking about something that I wrote! Now...yes, that song IS perfect, right? (Assuming that review is yours too?). And LOL the irony is I'm not romantic AT ALL irl, I don't know why these people in my head gotta date so much but the heavy focus on that is only temporary (except for BBRae, obviously lol). Love your thoughts on their situation! I mean, he's not gonna ask her anymore, so it gotta come from her this time hehe. Regarding the ending, it's been planned from the start and don't worry I'm not changing it (but also, it's not sad LOL). And THANKOU for your amazing kind words! They put a Beast-Boyish grin on my face!

THANKS for the favs/follows and for reading/joining me on this journey! xD

I Won't Give Up

Krypto, Salem and Silkie had been utterly confused since the Titans came back early from karaoke night. They were enjoying all the singing though, especially Krypto – Salem was mostly hiding behind him and watching from afar. Now it was Nightwing's turn to burst into song, apparently.

"Goin' out tonight…"

Starfire smiled and felt her stomach flutter with butterflies when he started singing the verses of Night Changes (One Direction) lovingly to her. She gasped cutely when all the other boys joined in to sing backup once he got to the chorus. It was cheesy and romantic and there was something deep and meaningful in his eyes that made her heart race.

The emotional lyrics were getting to her and her eyes welled up a bit. The boys dispersed and Richard sang verses again as he walked towards her with utter sincerity on his face. By the time the others rejoined at the second chorus, dancing around them, Kory giggled and allowed happy tears to roll down her cheeks, thinking this was probably the cutest thing that would ever happen to her. And then Dick took her hand and placed it over his heart, looking into her eyes as he softly sang the bridge of the song.

"…only getting' older, baby…"

Raven came back into the ops room just in time to watch something in awe – something that warmed her heart and brought a soft smile to her lips. Nightwing had all the boys doing charming boy band choreography behind him while a cheerful melody played and they sang the last chorus of Night Changes to Kory, who was smiling hugely and crying happy tears.

Garfield was merrily stealing glances at the empath as he sang and she absentmindedly smiled wider. Then she noticed Dick and tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. It was a really cute song, but it was also about growing up. Raven analyzed the way Richard was looking at her best friend and thought she saw a serious glint in his eyes and sensed certainty in his emotional state. Is he saying he wants to propose?

"It will never change me and you…" Nightwing finished the song, walking up to his girlfriend again with a huge smile on his face, and pulling her into a passionate kiss.

There were cheers and applause after that one. Even Wally and Roy smiled fondly, in spite of their own heartache. So did Jinx, though she also rolled her eyes. Damian, on the other hand, hid his smile and frowned, silently going to sit by the large window once he snapped out of it. Ravager was still in her room.

"Okay, that was adorable!" Terra clapped.

Cyborg chuckled. "Yeah, finally, some fun!"

"It was awesome!" Garfield exclaimed in a high-pitched, excited voice.

Kid Flash went to Jinx's side to start begging for forgiveness as soon as the song ended.

Nightwing hugged his girlfriend tightly, feeling like the luckiest person in the world – much like he had since she forgave him – and noticed Raven raising an eyebrow at him with a Monalisa smile on her lips, so he chuckled light-heartedly. "Babe, I'll be right back. I think Rae has something to say to me."

Kory pulled away and beamed. "Okay, love! I'll go check on friend Jinx."

Richard approached the empath with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "I know, I know. It was cheesy."

Raven was extremely amused. "Well, yes. But…" She narrowed her eyes. "I feel like it meant something. Something…huge."

Nightwing sustained his cool smile and so did she, so they engaged in an unspoken, spontaneous staring contest for quite a while.

"Are you thinking about what I think you're thinking about?" Raven finally asked; her eyes still narrow and suspicious.

Richard relaxed. Yep, she knows. She knows I'm thinking about proposing to Kor. "I might be. Would you help me?"

Her face lit up – as far as Raven goes. "It will be my pleasure."

Nightwing was extremely relieved, because he really did need help. Romance wasn't his strong suit. "Do you think I should keep it plain and simple or-"

"Forget simple. It's Kor. Think big." The empath said quickly, getting a heartwarming chuckle out of him. Then she saw Damian and her smile fell as her eyes lingered on the young boy looking out the window by himself.

Dick followed her gaze and frowned. "Yeah…I know."

Raven sighed. "I think Rose freaked out on him. She's still in her room."

Richard nodded. "I think so too. With the League of Assassins and everything else, I'm just afraid he's shutting down again."

"Me too."

"I guess we just keep trying, then?"

"Of course. I'll go talk to Rose, too."

"Does she like him back, Rae?" Nightwing watched her reaction intently, but he still couldn't read her. "C'mon, I promise I won't tell him."

Raven shrugged. "What she feels isn't as important as what she does with it."

He rolled his eyes fondly. "Sometimes this whole high and wise thing you do is a little infuriating, you know?"

The empath chuckled softly. "I do. But what am I supposed to-" She stopped talking and closed her eyes to sigh tiredly when music started playing out of nowhere again. "What now?"

"I'm not a perfect person…" Wally West sang the verses of The Reason (Hoobastank) to Jinx.

The enchantress held her breath and stared into his sincere, sorrow-filled eyes, taking in every comforting word of this apology song he was doing a wonderful job of serenading her to.

"Oh, that's nice. Right?" Raven turned to Nightwing again, but he was in a trance, walking up to Starfire while the Changeling came over, apparently in that same trance. Garfield sat down across from her and stared at her lovingly and wordlessly, the same way Dick did to Kory, until Wally got to the chorus and they both started singing along. The empath rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. She didn't need another apology. But Jinx needed hers and apparently Kid Flash needed backup singers, so she just focused on resisting the urge to interrupt him with a kiss.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you…" It was Wally's turn to sing solo again as he stepped closer to a now clearly emotional Jinx and poured his heart out.

Richard and Garfield backed him up one more time by the second chorus, but then two silent tears rolled down the enchantress's face and her voice joined Kid Flash's once he got to the bridge of the song, because she also had stuff to apologize for. She did get flirty with Conner. Besides, it was simply a fact: she had changed because of Wally in the first place, so she meant each of these words as she sang the rest of the song with him, staring deeply into his eyes.

"And the reason is you…" Kid Flash wrapped it up with remorseful eyes. His expression didn't change after he was finished. "Jinx, I'm so, so sorry. I should have believed you. I'm never making that mistake again, I swear."

She bit her lip, allowing a relieved smile on her face before leaning in for a soft kiss.

The Changeling and Nightwing had actually snapped out of their trance as soon as the song became a duet. And the shapeshifter had been smiling breezily at Raven ever since, enjoying the way her cheeks got slightly rosier under his gaze. His grin widened at the sound of their friends making up, but he didn't remove his eyes from her. "Well, at least that worked out."

The empath nodded. "Indeed." When he just continued to smile at her, she frowned worriedly. "Are you about to burst into song?"

Garfield chuckled softly. "Sadly, no. I kinda wanna sing to you again, but…"

"Oh, that's okay." Raven said way too quickly, making him laugh louder.

He noticed she seemed a bit distracted. "What is it?"

"Don't look now, but…I think Terra and Speedy are about to break up."

"What!?" Garfield turned his neck at once to stare at them and Raven gave his head a gentle smack, making him yelp and turn back to her. "Hey!"

"What did I just say?"

The shapeshifter smiled sheepishly and rubbed his head. It didn't hurt at all, but he thought maybe if he acted cute about it, he could get something out of it. "Don't look now. Sorry. You didn't need to slap me for it, though."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Please, I barely touched you."

Garfield pointed at his head. "It's totally gonna leave a bump." He held back laughter, because there was absolutely no chance of it leaving a bump, but now she was looking slightly guilty, so he felt bold and shot her a cheeky look. "I mean, if you want to slap me, there are nicer ways and more appropriate contexts…"

She grunted and rolled her eyes again, folding her arms. "Shut up."

The shapeshifter chuckled hysterically. "So you hit me and then tell me to shut up? Where did you shove that sweet violet-cloaked Raven?"

"I didn't hit you, don't be ridiculous." The empath said with narrowed eyes.

He sighed dramatically. "I miss Affection. She would at least kiss it better…"

Raven frowned. Wait, did I actually hurt him? She started to fear the worst, because it wasn't like it'd never happened before. She'd lost her temper and exaggerated a bit once or twice when they were younger. But not for a long, long time now. She could sense he wasn't upset – in fact, he was rather happy – but that could just be Garfield being Garfield. "Gar, are you…serious?"

The shapeshifter shrugged, completely committed to playing the victim. "Don't worry; you can hit me all you want. I'll take it."

Her eyes widened. "No, wait." She immediately reached out to check his head for a bump. There's no way, I was careful. But…what if I'm too messed up because of all these emotions and miscalculated? "I'm sorry."

Garfield was taken aback by her urgent – and almost desperate – response and held her wrists, bringing her hands down with an apologetic look on his face. "Rae, I was messing with you."

Raven exhaled loudly in relief, which was quickly replaced by outrage, so she glared and gave him yet another gentle smack, making him chuckle this time. "Idiot."

The Changeling forced himself to stop laughing. "Sorry, love. I didn't think you'd buy it."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't."

"You soooo did!" Garfield smiled and tilted his head cutely. "You were all worried and guilty!"

Raven decided to regain the upper hand and smirked. "Right. My mistake. Next time I'll just tell you to sleep it off."

The shapeshifter's smug smile fell at once. "No, wait! I wasn't complaining!"

"No, of course not. Just making me feel guilty and worried and then mocking me for it." She pondered in an amused manner. When he desperately opened his mouth to argue, she raised a hand to silence him. "Lesson learned, I won't worry about you so much."

"What!? No, wait! I-"

"I said I don't want to talk. Leave me alone!" Damian spat out rudely, trying to make his way out of the ops room while his brother tried to follow. Then a soft melody came out of nowhere and he grunted, walking faster. Not this again. At least he didn't feel an urge to sing.

Garfield's eyebrows shot up. "Woah, what do you think this one's gonna be about?" The shapeshifter turned his head when she didn't answer. "Rae?"

Raven appeared out of thin air in Damian's way before he could leave the room. She seemed like she was in musical trance and the young Robin frowned questioningly, but then another voice started singing behind him.

"Step one, you say we need to talk…" Richard's soothing voice delivered the first verses of How to Save a Life (The Fray).

Damian turned around dreadfully and found that, in fact, it was just as he feared. His brother was singing that song to him. Raven had moved to mysteriously stare out the window, but now Dick was by his side and his escape was ruined. So the young boy folded his arms and glared. "This isn't going to work."

"Some sort of window…" The empath's breathy voice joined Richard's, harmonizing with him as she sang much higher notes, still staring out the glass.

Robin turned his head to her in shock. "Seriously!?"

Then they got to the chorus and Nightwing placed both his hands on Damian's shoulders. The young Robin avoided his brother's eyes and pulled away when he began singing verses again. It was a good song and the lyrics were starting to get to him, especially when Dick was singing them with that much intensity.

Jinx figured Rose might want to be there for this one, so she went to Ravager's room to get her, but on her way, she realized she could hear a completely different melody growing louder as the one from the ops room got weaker. It was definitely coming from Rose's room. The pink-haired enchantress pressed her ear against the door.

"I tell myself I don't care that much…" Ravager sang in a strangled, yet melodious voice.

Jinx opened the door to see Rose performing a very dramatic rendition of Only Love Can Hurt Like This (Paloma Faith) in her room. She thought about making fun of her at first, but then the spell took over and the enchantress involuntarily started singing soft backing vocals to Slade's daughter while she clung to furniture as if her life depended on it, grabbed her hair and slid down the wall, singing her heart out with a pained face.

Meanwhile, in the ops room, Damian was still trying to look away, but it was challenging when Richard was right in front of him. Raven kept nailing her soft high notes on every other verse and everyone else just appreciated how good they sounded and the emotional weight of this particular performance. And then Robin felt his eyes start to well up a bit by the end of the second chorus and decided running away was the only acceptable course of action.

The empath teleported in front of him again. "…he begins to raise his voice…"

Damian hadn't noticed the others were in trance now too until he tried to run in a different direction. Every Titan in the room was in on it. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Where did I go wrong…" Everyone sang in a complex vocal harmony arrangement.

Robin frowned and looked around desperately, trying to figure out an escape route as his brother once again walked up to him with sincere and emotional eyes. "Seriously!? You're surrounding me?"

At the same time, Ravager dropped to her knees inside her room, finishing her song as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "It must have been the deadly kiss…"

Jinx slowly approached the other girl when the spell released her. "Rose?"

She closed her eyes and hid her face as more tears fell, then quickly wiped her cheeks and stood up, trying to cover up the pain. "I…I don't know what that was."

The enchantress smiled sadly and pulled her into a hug. "I do. It's okay."

Ravager hesitated at first and remained stiff, but then she relaxed and hugged Jinx back after a few seconds. She did need some sort of comfort. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."

The pink-haired girl chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I mean, Conner probably heard you and Raven will definitely pick up on those feelings, but those aren't my fault."

Rose grunted loudly in frustration, realizing she was right.

"You should just go to him. You two are the most coward badasses I know."

Ravager rolled her eyes and pulled away. She knew how she felt now, and it was intense. There was no point denying it. But it still scared her. Besides, she ran away when he kissed her. He probably resented that. "Whatever. What did I miss?"

"A lot." Jinx said pointedly, pulling the white-haired girl by the arm and filling her in as they headed back to the ops room.

Meanwhile, Nightwing was wrapping it up while staring into Robin's now clearly watery eyes. "How to save a life…" He embraced his brother tightly as soon as he sang his final words.

And then Damian finally broke down. He let out a single soft sob and that was it. The young boy wept in Richard's arms and before he could even think about feeling embarrassed, he felt Starfire's arms around them. Then Raven's. Then Garfield's. And then he was enveloped in an overwhelming, but extremely heartwarming group hug, reminding him he didn't need to be strong all the time and Ra's wasn't his burden to carry alone. None of them carried burdens alone anymore, because they were on a team. And just for a moment, they forgot all the awkwardness this weird evening had brought upon them.

Robin wiped his face and chuckled slightly, feeling a lot better. "Okay, okay, that's enough. Get off of me."

"Not yet." Starfire said merrily, making him sigh.

"Well, how sweet." Jinx teased as she walked in on the group hug with Ravager.

This time they all laughed light-heartedly and dispersed. Kid Flash went to Jinx's side and Ravager quickly walked up to Damian, who was obviously avoiding her eyes.

"Hey, there."

"Hey, Rose."

Ravager cleared her throat. He's hurt. I fucking hurt him. "I'm sorry I ran away earlier. I…I just, you know, you kinda caught me off guard."

Damian looked up at her and grimaced. "Yeah, sorry. Can we maybe forget that?"

Rose frowned. Are you kidding me!? You kiss me and make me realize I love you then you want me to forget!? No way. Don't be a pussy now, Rose. "I…don't you want to talk about it?"

Robin's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, I…I could talk about it." He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "I mean, if you want to talk about it."

"I'm not sure what I want, but I think we have to talk about it." She pondered. "But…it can wait if you want. I know you have a lot going on right now."

Damian gave her a small, grateful smile. "Yeah, okay. Rain check, then."

"Rain check." Ravager nodded. She could wait until he wasn't obsessing over his grandfather.

"Found him." Cyborg said pointedly, showing Klarion's location on the main computer.

Nightwing raised a strategic hand in the air. "Titans, let's-"

"I got him." Superboy stated confidently before flying off.

Richard dropped his hand and sighed. "Great."

"Actually, I think he can take Klarion." Raven said calmly. "Especially since he won't see him coming."

"Besides, if we all go what are the chances we don't burst into song and perform some elaborate group number about it?" Rose shivered at the thought.

"I guess you're right." Nightwing turned to Raven. "So, what do you need?"

"Help me set up the reverse spell on the roof."

Between Raven, Jinx, Nightwing, Bumblebee and Starfire, there were way more people than necessary already to paint a symbol on the floor and light up some candles, so Garfield decided to dig some gossip to share with the empath later. He approached Terra on the edge of the roof. "So…what's up with that?" The shapeshifter tilted his head towards a distraught Speedy. "Rae thought maybe you were breaking up earlier."

The blonde smiled sadly and nodded. "We did break up."

"Oh. Are you okay?"

"Yes. It was mutual. It was just time." She said breezily.

Garfield couldn't help but chuckle at that, though secretly thanking God for getting over her. It clearly wasn't mutual. "You little heartbreaker." He said teasingly, referring to her song.

Terra grimaced apologetically. "Sorry about that."

He waved a hand to dismiss her concerns. "That's okay. I was just worried about what Rae would think, but she was cool."

The blond Titan smiled again, this time with eager curiosity. "By the way, what's up with that? Like, where do you two stand right now? What are you?"

The Changeling just shrugged and grinned easily. "We're us, I guess. I can't ask for more than that. I don't want to ask for anything when I've taken so much."

Terra's smile became soft and friendly. "Well, whatever you are, I'm glad I didn't ruin it because I have a lot of love for you both."

He turned to look at her. "Yeah we have love for you too, Ter."

Maybe it was because he was talking about her, but Garfield started getting an itchy desire to sing to Raven again. In fact, he was going to, because soft melodious notes started playing out of nowhere and everyone else seemed exasperated, but he knew it was him and he knew what song it was. Superboy suddenly flew in with Klarion and harshly dropped him on the roof.

"Oh, good. Let's end this, please!" Cyborg pulled the Witch Boy into his grasp while Jinx bound him with her misfortune magic.

"Wait." Garfield said, surprising everyone. "Let me do this one more. I need to say this."

Raven frowned. He was looking right at her. "Gar…"

"Trust me." The Changeling whispered surely, staring into her eyes.

The empath continued to frown worriedly, but she took a deep breath and waited. The melody wasn't unfamiliar, but she couldn't bring it to mind at the moment. Whatever it was, he clearly wanted to express something, and while it was all a little too public for her, it seemed like it was important to him. He asked me to trust him. I do want to trust him.

Klarion tried to sneak out. He knew what his spell had done to them and if the Changeling was about to serenade her, he really didn't want to watch. But Wally caught him and Robin punched him and Cyborg forced him to his knees and they told him to "shut up or else", so he huffed and rolled his eyes.

"When I look into your eyes…" Garfield softly but firmly sang the first words of I Won't Give Up (JasonMraz) to Raven, taking it absolutely seriously.

The empath was a little taken aback by his intensity. It did feel like there was no one else there with them with the way he was looking at her. She held her breath and for the first time, she was the one who felt trapped in his eyes, because she couldn't look away. Garfield sang while slowly approaching her and gently cupped her face in his hands, tilting it upwards so he could continue staring into her now slightly vulnerable eyes at the chorus. And then he let go of her and took a few steps back to sing the next verses.

"…when you're needing your space…"

Raven knew she had heard this song before, but she had never paid this much attention to it. And now she felt like every word could have been written about her and about them, because every word he was singing to her was exactly what she needed to hear. As far as she was concerned, these were the most romantic lyrics ever written. And then his voice got higher when the music grew and the other boys joined in singing backing vocals.

There was no cheesy boy band choreography. It was raw and simple and Raven thought it was absolutely perfect. And he was singing about waiting for her and she felt safe and lucky and she had to struggle to keep her powers under control. And then he got to the bridge of the song and walked up to her again with even more sincerity and intensity in his eyes.

Garfield could see it while he sang to her, her eyes were much more vulnerable now. In fact, there were tears in them. Good tears. That's it, love. You can trust me. I won't let you down again. He could feel his own eyes welling up now too. "I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not, and who I am…"

Oh, shit. She cradled his face in her hands as the song got even bigger now and the last choruses filled the night air by candlelight on the roof when every single one of her friends backed him up and he sang surely and lovingly to her. Then something different happened. They levitated slightly as her powers involuntarily and gently lifted them about a foot into the air, but neither of them even flinched. Raven was vaguely aware of the iridescent glow randomly floating through the rooftop, but mostly twirling around the two of them.

"Well this is new…" Terra giggled at the magical beam ray dancing around.

The Titans marveled at what this particular song was doing to her powers. Whatever fuzzy feeling Raven was feeling, for once it didn't cause havoc. It looked like moonlight, but even softer. It lit up the roof, appearing and vanishing and swirling playfully between them. It was absolutely beautiful.

"I won't give up…" Garfield's voice softened when he began singing the final part of the song on his own, taking one of her hands from his face and placing it over his heart. Her powers settled down, gently lowering them to the floor. All he could think about was he definitely found a new song to serenade her to.

They stared at each other with vulnerable, watery eyes and in complete silence for a few seconds after he was done, and then Raven inhaled and retrieved her hands, finally looking away from his eyes and clearing her throat. She swallowed her tears and only then allowed herself to look at him again. He was smiling affectionately at her, so she offered a quick but genuine smile back. She knew everyone was smiling ridiculously enormous smiles at them. Even Aqualad was feeling warm towards them after that song. She was grateful for them, but she didn't want to talk about it, so she decided to ignore all of it for now.

The empath opened her hand and Klarion's magical amulet flew directly to her, encased in dark energy. "This will do."

Reversing the spell was pretty quick and soon enough, everyone felt this weird magical energy leaving their bodies and sighed in relief. The girls wanted to talk to Raven about what her powers had done on the roof and what it meant, but she dismissed them by claiming it had been a long day, so the Titans just headed back to the ops room.

"Thank God that's over." Ravager said with utter sincerity.

"Yeah. Still the weirdest thing that's ever happened to us." Cyborg nodded.

After the sweetness of Garfield's last song dissipated, all the awkwardness from all the previous involuntary revelations took over the room again and now everyone was glaring at the Witch Boy, who was seated on the couch.

"Worst karaoke night ever." Speedy declared, earning multiple nods in agreement.

Ravager and Robin sat on each side of Klarion with smug smiles on their faces.

"So…that last one must have been difficult to watch." Rose said teasingly.

The warlock just glared at her. She wasn't wrong.

"You deserve a lot worse." Damian muttered angrily.

"Look, this wasn't what I meant to do, okay?" Klarion said defensively. "This was your bad luck witch messing up my spell."

"Can we gag him?" Jinx suggested.

"Yes, please." Garfield glared daggers at their prisoner.

"No, you're right, Klarion. You just meant to hypnotize our friend into loving you." Cyborg folded his arms. "What was it you said? Let Trigon destroy this world and find a nice hellish dimension to rule together…?"

The Witch Boy grimaced. "Yes, I…well, I…"

"So what should I do with you?" Raven's stern, slow voice cut him off.

The warlock felt his blood run cold at that. He knew when she was mad. Klarion gulped and looked up to see the empath staring down at him with severe eyes.

"I mean, you've been a constant, annoying, surprisingly resourceful, thorn in my side."

"I'm sorry, Raven. I actually was drunk."

She frowned. "You're sorry you got caught. And how is that better?"

"I…well, you know I'd never hurt you."

"But you did hurt me, Klarion. And you could have done a lot worse. Maybe I should let the Changeling's Werebeast deal with you." She took pleasure in seeing color drain from his face as Garfield cracked his knuckles behind her, smiling wickedly. "Or maybe I could banish you to the Phantom Zone or erase all your memories…" He turned even paler. "I would absorb your powers, but honestly I don't want anything from you, the thought alone makes me feel all…itchy." She shivered in disgust.

"Please don't do any of that." Klarion said urgently. "I won't betray you again, I swear."

Raven tapped her foot and narrowed her eyes. She sensed Starfire coming up beside her. "What do you think, Kor?"

"I think you shouldn't trust him for a second." The Tamaranean said seriously. They were both just playing with him, of course. They already knew what the plan was and Dick was taking care of that, but watching the desperate look on the warlock's face was entertaining.

The empath nodded slowly. "Gar? Do you want to kill him for me?"

The shapeshifter smiled menacingly. He knew what the plan was too, but he was enjoying this as much as she was. Besides, he really loved the way Raven had phrased that. "It would be my pleasure."

Klarion was horrified. To him, death by his hands was worse than by hers. She knew that too, of course. It was probably why she suggested it. "No, wait…"

"So, I just talked to Batman, and he said with Zatanna's help they can definitely contain him in some special magical prison." Nightwing walked back into the ops room, calmly delivering the news. "They'll give us a heads-up if he ever escapes, too."

The Witch Boy exhaled and visibly relaxed. That sounded way better than Raven's threats.

"Dammit, Dick. We were still playing with him." Victor complained.

Nightwing frowned. "Uh…sorry?"

"No, that's great." Raven told him. "Thank you." Then she turned her attention to the warlock again and leaned closer to him with menacing eyes to speak in a low, chilling voice. "If you ever come near me or any of my friends again, there will be no mercy."

Klarion nodded. He knew she meant it. You can only annoy Raven so many times before she runs out of patience. He'd spent all his chances. "Understood."

The empath left to her room without another word to anyone so she could meditate properly for the first time that whole day. It was late, but she knew the night wasn't over yet. That spell unfolded a lot and there would be drama in the tower for days to come. Garfield followed to check on her.

As soon as they left, Conner pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting his arms on the back of the chair in a relaxed manner and staring at a miserable Klarion. "Get over it, dude. I don't think it's possible to break up those two."

The Witch Boy grumbled under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, maybe find something more productive to do." Rose chuckled mischievously. "Go find that cat of yours instead of stalking a girl who's clearly not interested."

"She told you about Teekl!?" Klarion practically squeaked.

Barely anyone knew about his familiar. Teekl had been lost for a while now after they had a disagreement, back when he first met Raven. He'd felt slightly incomplete since. If anyone killed her, he would be forced to go back to his original dimension. He'd asked the empath to find her for him, but she said that was his mess to fix on his own and she would never force Teekl to take him back. He remembered bitterly thinking she would probably do it for the Changeling. He knew Raven never loved him. She was honest about it. She never let him think she loved him. Of course she'd told her entire team about his greatest weakness.

"Don't worry; Rae likes cats. She wouldn't hurt yours." Kory said seriously.

Salem meowed and Klarion almost smiled at him. "Yeah, I know. But one of you might."

"That's not how we do things." Cyborg said plainly.

"But you should definitely focus on fixing that relationship." Rose insisted.

The warlock frowned and sighed. She might be right, actually.

When Raven came back into the ops room, the Flash had already come over to take Klarion away, so now everyone was acting bitter and awkward towards each other without a common target to direct their anger at. She only came out to tell Garfield she was ready to talk. He had gone after her earlier, but she'd explained she really did need to meditate.

Now that she was here though, she was a little distracted by all the arguing going on all around because of all the secrets out of the closet. Aqualad, Speedy and Changeling seemed to be bickering, Nightwing and Cyborg were calling Conner out on something, Robin and Ravager just looked embarrassed again and so did Terra. Wally and Jinx were talking it out, but it was clearly a loaded conversation.

"I just feel so violated." Terra hugged herself and shuddered. "I mean, no one should be forced to out their feelings that openly. It's not…natural."

Everyone nodded adamantly in agreement, except for Raven, who remained completely unfazed, watching the whole thing with slight interest, but very little curiosity.

Jinx noticed and narrowed her eyes at the empath, folding her arms. "You don't agree?"

Raven shrugged. "Of course I do."

"Yeaaah, but you're awfully calm." Cyborg narrowed his eyes as well.

The sorcerer frowned. "Am I supposed to be on edge?"

Aqualad scratched his head. "I mean, kinda. Aren't you shocked or…I don't know, upset about something?"

"Like what?"

Kid Flash tiredly counted on his fingers. "Like Aqualad pining over you and Terra at the same time, or Conner flirting with everyone, or Terra suddenly being the female version of Conner, or Robin there having a thing for Slade's daughter, or-"

"She got it." Rose said pointedly, interrupting him as her face turned red and she looked away from an equally flushed Damian.

"Oh. Mmm…well…" Raven bit her lip.

"You already knew about all the stuff we revealed, didn't you?" Jinx asked, making every head turn to the empath in shock.

"Well, I…" Raven looked around the room and realized some people were deeply bothered by that. Not that they blamed her, but suddenly being aware of how much secret information her powers gave her access to made them somewhat uncomfortable. So she pointed a finger at Superboy. "Conner eavesdrops on other people's conversations." Well that was childish of me. Maybe Garfield is rubbing off on me a bit too much.

Superboy gasped defensively when everyone looked at him. "I have super-hearing; I can't just turn it off!"

"Well I can't turn it off either!" Raven argued, shooting him a slightly apologetic look.

"Okay, guys. It's all good." Bumblebee chuckled light-heartedly, deciding to be the voice of reason. "Let's not let the fact that we all feel a little ridiculous right now make us take it out on Raven or Conner or anyone else with involuntary invasive powers, yes?"

They reluctantly seemed to agree with that.

"Oh, but…we do need you to fix this when you can." Richard told the empath, pointing at the large crack on their window.

Raven smirked. "Oh, Jinx can fix that now."

They all turned to the enchantress with questioning looks and she shrugged and told them all about how she figured out how to use her powers to fix instead of jinx, which was followed by a wave of praises and compliments she fully appreciated. Besides, all the bickering from moments ago was momentarily forgotten. Jinx fixed the window and sighed contently, with a smug smile on her face. It didn't come naturally for her and it wasn't easy, but she could do it. It's not that she didn't like her powers before; it's just that she liked knowing they could do some good, too. The pink-haired girl was still admiring her work when everyone dispersed and Raven approached her.

"Good job, by the way." The empath said kindly. "Also, sincerity and vulnerability? Good answer." She nodded, referring to what Jinx told Conner earlier.

The enchantress thought of ten different snarky comments, but in the end she decided against them for once. "Thanks for telling Wally what you saw in my head. And thanks for working on this with me." She tilted her head towards the fixed glass.

Raven smiled slightly. "Thanks for stopping Klarion today."

"You already thanked me for that. I think we're going overboard with the soppiness."

The sorcerer rolled her shoulders back and cleared her throat. "Yes, I think you're right."

"Take care of Rose. I can't tell you what I watched her sing, but it was brutal."

Raven nodded. "I can imagine. Don't worry, I will." She spotted Garfield out of the corner of her eye, already heading to his own room. He thinks I don't want to talk tonight. "Excuse me."

"Raven?" Jinx called as the empath floated away.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Yes, Jinx?"

"I know I often give you a hard time, but…you know I got you, right?" The enchantress smirked. "I mean, witches and bitches stick together."

Raven turned around in shock and shot Jinx a small, but genuine smile. "I got you, too."

Garfield wasn't expecting her to knock on his door at this point. He was almost certain she wouldn't want to discuss any of it anytime soon. So when he sniffed her scent, his lips spread into a wide grin. "Get in, Rae."

She phased through his door and observed his room. She'd come over two or three times since she came back, but it had been dark and she hadn't really paid attention to her surroundings. Now she realized it was much cleaner than it used to be – though it was still messy. His bed was a welcome change, of course. It was larger and there was no top bunk to bump your head into in the morning. But right now what she noticed was the raven plush she'd gotten him resting on his pillow. Raven smiled absentmindedly then averted her gaze to his lean, toned, green back while he lazily changed into sleeping clothes. She blushed and tilted her head to watch until he put on his t-shirt and turned around.

"What's up?" The shapeshifter asked her before grabbing the bottle of soy milk he brought and taking a gulp. It's not that he didn't love her standing there silently in the middle of his room being all mysterious and stoic, it's just that she probably just wanted to get the book she left there last time or politely say good night or something, and he was spent after the day they'd had, so he figured he should get to the point already.

"We need to talk about all that singing." Raven said plainly.

That caught him by surprise. Garfield choked on the milk and bumped his foot on the bed at the same time and needless to say, he spilled a considerable amount of soy milk on himself. The shapeshifter sighed, staring down at his body, before gathering the courage to look at her. In moments like this, he was always slightly concerned she would suddenly think he was too goofy, too childish or too stupid for her. But when he did look up, she was pressing her lips together to fight back a smile in the cutest possible way, with fondness in her eyes.

The Changeling smiled in relief and headed to his door. "Sure. Can you please get me another shirt first? I'll clean up and I'll be right back."

Raven floated to his closet and tossed him a dark-blue tee she loved on him. She also tossed him the dinosaur boxers, shooting him a small smile. He caught them and chuckled freely before leaving for a few minutes. When he came back, she'd noticed something big and square hidden under a white sheet on the bottom of his closet.

"I'm glad you still like these, actually." Garfield said, pointing at his boxers.

"I do. Hey, what's that?" She asked, still staring at the abandoned rectangle inside the closet.

The Changeling frowned and approached her to see what she meant. Then his face lit up. "Oh, right! I totally forgot about that." He merrily picked it up and removed the sheet to reveal the painting he'd made of her on his 21st birthday. He admired the art again and allowed it to warm his heart. He hadn't looked at it in so long. And then he noticed she was smiling too, so he hung it up on his wall. "There. I took it down after you left…" Garfield went to sit on his bed. "It just hurt too much to see it mocking me and reminding me of my failure every day."

Raven nodded slowly and sat down beside him. "I'm glad it's not mocking you anymore."

The shapeshifter chuckled softly, looking down and staring at his own hands. "Because you're here. Thank you. Thank you for forgiving me and for coming home."

The empath reached out to gently stroke his hair, which made him turn his head towards her in surprise. She smiled sweetly. "On that note…and regarding all that singing we did…you know I love you, right?"

He automatically beamed. His smile got so big and bright his cheeks ached. And his chest burned in bliss and his stomach instantly fluttered, because she was saying it again. "I mean…I had a feeling."

Raven continued stroking his hair. "Well, I do."

"I love you, too. But you know you don't need to rush your healing, right? I really will be here no matter what. And if it takes all our lives, I'll still be here too. I meant what I said when I ran to your evil lair that night." Garfield said playfully. "You're not gonna lose me."

Oh, my Azar. She scooted closer and rested her chin on his shoulder, looking at him with a slightly sad smile. "I didn't know you knew I was still hurting."

The shapeshifter nodded. "I do. I'm trying to…well, you heard the songs. That. All of that." He tried to ignore his eager heart aching with her proximity and intimacy. "And you know I'll never forgive myself, right? I know what I did."

Raven sighed and wrapped her arms around him, resting her hands on his waist, with her chin still on his shoulder. She whispered. "I wish you would. Forgive yourself, I mean."

He shook his head and looked straight ahead. "No, I can't. It's not possible."

"Gar…I can live with losing the Sixth Dimension and immortality. I can even live with losing salvation." The empath said softly, straightening up. She could sense absolute shock and confusion from him. "Don't get me wrong…it hurts." She said seriously. "But…I can make my peace with it and move on. Losing it all hurt, but it wasn't exactly what made me snap."

The Changeling frowned. He definitely couldn't make his peace with it and move on. He silently pledged to himself he would still at least find a way to save her soul. But he wouldn't hurt her with pointless hope until he succeeded, so he decided to just address the part of that speech that really surprised him. "It wasn't?"

Raven shook her head lightly. "It was the fact that you were the one to take it away from me. That was the worst part." She sensed his guilt and quickly held his hand, intertwining their fingers. He gratefully accepted it and she looked into his eyes and whispered her next words intently. "And you've been helping me heal, like you always have. I can't even begin to tell you how well. So…can you please forgive yourself? I don't want this to torture you anymore."

Garfield's face contorted through an emotional hurricane. Relief, regret, gratitude, love, sorrow and surprise mixed together, filling his eyes with tears. He hadn't expected those words. He didn't even know how much he longed for those words until she said them. She noticed, obviously, so she cradled his head and gently pulled it to her shoulder. The shapeshifter buried his face in the crook of her neck and sobbed quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She kissed the top of his head and stroked his hair again, speaking soothingly. "I'm okay, Gar. I'll be okay. And I love you. You can heal too."

He sniffled softly. "You have no idea what this means to me."

Raven felt her chest burn for him again. "Can I stay here tonight? Just to be close to you?"

Garfield smiled against her skin, inhaling her scent. "Is that a serious question?"

She chuckled quietly into his hair. "Let's go to bed, love."

It was his chest's turn to ache. She called me love. And she meant it. I can't fucking believe this is happening. He lifted his head and softly kissed her lips. "Yes, my love." He kissed her again, more playfully this time. "Whatever you want, my love." Another cheesy, quick kiss. "I'll follow you anywhere, my love." At this point, she was giggling, and he held her face for a deeper kiss.

Raven pulled away after several passionate seconds and got herself a loose tee from his closet. She changed with her back turned to him and she just knew he was staring intently at her bare skin, because she could feel his excitement as she took off her armor and put on his shirt. The empath turned around to smile softly at him.

Garfield thought he would burst with happiness at the sight, but he didn't want to seem too eager so he didn't say anything – he just beamed at her. They lay down and he wrapped his arms and legs around her and laid his head on her shoulder while she ran her fingers up and down his arms and listened as he filled her in on all the gossip she'd missed earlier. And they fell asleep with lighter hearts.

Okay, phew. I'll probably update this weekend and that will be the "season finale" lol and then I'll take a break to finish writing the final chapters (and trust me, part III of this story is sweeter than I and II combined) and most likely come back in January xD

I Won't Give Up (Jason Mraz)