Fan Fiction ❯ Ten Years Later ❯ The Night I Called The Old Man Out ( Chapter 10 )

Ten Years Later

By

Brandon “GoldenSama” Rice

 

Chapter Ten

“The Night I Called The Old Man Out”

 

A/N: I apologize for the delay. Between my new job, and my computer being infested with spyware, I've had little time for writing lately. However, I am back, and it's time to end on a high note. Please enjoy the surprise-filled, twisted-and-turning, action-packed, romantic, very shocking final chapter of Ten Years Later.

 

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“Quickly, get her into the church!” Arella called to Kori. Kori nodded and scooped Raven up in her arms, then she turned and ran back towards the church steps where Arella stood, but at that moment Nightwing's voice reached her ears and she stopped dead in her tracks, feeling as if someone had just poured a bucket of icy water down her shirt.

 

She spun around to see an injured Nightwing. His clothes were ripped on the chest and bloody scars caught Kori's eyes in a flash. His mask was half off his face, and his hair was covered in deep crimson stains. He crawled on the ground, unable to stand or walk.

 

“Kori . . . help.” He choked out. Kori's green eyes widened and she felt herself grow numb. Seeing him like this was enough to cause her emotions to go out of whack, and she started going forward towards him, still carrying the unconscious Raven in her arms; until Arella's voice sounded.

 

“Remember the last!”

 

Kori stopped; confused at first, but then she realized what Arella must mean. She meant before, when they had seen Beast Boy lying ill on the street, and it had been a trap. Was this version of Nightwing nothing more than a trick? Kori felt a fierce Tamaranian anger surge up in her stomach and she shifted Raven so that she held the other woman with only one arm. She raised the other hand and a green bolt of light started forming inside the palm of her fist. Nightwing's eyes opened wide.

 

“Kori . . . please . . . it's not a trick. We were at the dock . . . Trigon attacked us and knocked us in the water, I swear . . . please don't kill me . . .” Nightwing begged.

 

Kori scoffed. “Nightwing has never begged for his life, not once.” She informed him, and then she fired the starbolt right into Nightwing's face, which caused his head to explode. The decapitated corpse of Dick Grayson suddenly transformed into the same small demon that had impersonated Beast Boy moments earlier. Kori turned away from the dead imp and walked up the steps, joining Arella on the Holy Church ground.

 

“Will Raven be alright?” Kori asked as she approached her friend's mother, still carrying Raven in her arms. She had shifted Raven's body again, so that the unconscious girl was lying spread across both of her arms. One of Kori's arms hooked under Raven's knees, the other just behind her head. Arella looked down at her daughter and shook her head.

 

“She is fine, physically, but it has drained her to bring Trigon here. She is weak, and needs time to rest; and he will be coming for her.” Arella explained.

 

“Why?” Kori asked, confused. “She already brought him here, why would he even care anymore?”

 

“Because she is his daughter.” Arella replied simply. “She is the only one capable of defeating Trigon. She is what gave him power, and she can take it away again. She can destroy him once and for all, so he wants to kill her. We have to protect her until she can defeat him.”

 

At that moment, as Arella spoke, the ground shook. The two women turned to see a large black shadow looming in the distance, coming from the direction of the bay. As the shadow drew closer, and the shaking became worse, and the thunderous footsteps became louder; Arella's eyes widened and she shook her head. Kori understood that this must be Trigon.

 

“Arella, take Raven inside.” Kori demanded, placing the unconscious girl in her mother's arms.

 

“You cannot fight him.” Arella told her at once.

 

“I have to try.” Kori responded, not caring or even thinking about the danger. She gave Arella a gentle push, and the older woman sighed and carried her daughter into the relative safety of the church. Kori floated up into the air, her hands glowing with a fierce green light illuminating the night as she rose higher and higher. Trigon finally arrived, and she could see his red leather-like skin and his four evil eyes bearing down at her.

 

“Hello little Tamaranian.” Trigon greeted her. “I suppose you hope to block my path, do you?”

 

“I will fight you.” Kori replied with a voice burning with determination.

 

“Amusing.” Trigon scoffed. “However, I have plenty of time on my hands. I will play your game.”

 

Kori darted forward, hurling starbolts at the intergalactic demon in front of her with a furious rage. She watched them connect with Trigon's face and soon the demon's head was engulfed in smoke as she threw hundreds of tiny green bolts at his face. After a solid minute and a half of attack, Kori stopped, breathing heavily. The smoke cleared, and Trigon blinked a few times.

 

“That's all?” He sneered at her.

 

Kori let out a grunt of anger and shot forward like a bullet. She smacked Trigon in the face with both fists, and because of her superhuman strength, he was thrown backwards and he fell into a building across the street from the church. Kori watched him fall, and as his body went crushing down onto the steel building, she threw a flurry of starbolts at him, adding to the attack.

 

However, when the smoke had cleared, Trigon reached up and grabbed hold of another nearby building and pulled himself back to his feet with a laugh in his eyes.

 

“That's strike two.” Trigon informed her with his mocking tone. “You're just as pathetic as the others that I've killed.”

 

Kori felt her body tense up at the idea of the other Titans being dead. Her entire petite form shook with rage and she closed her eyes, trying to block out the tears. Trigon observed this, and once again, he laughed in his great mocking tone.

“You mortals will cry over anything, won't you?” Trigon laughed, his gigantic mouth open wide with laughter. Kori opened her eyes and bright green lasers fired from her corneas straight into Trigon's open mouth. There was an explosion in his throat, and the demon stumbled backwards, stepping on a car as he clutched his throat and coughed, gasping for breath.

“I will make you cry for what you did to my friends!” Kori screamed at him, tears leaking down her face as she shook from a combination of sadness and determination. If the others truly were dead, she had no choice but to destroy him. She did not care if Arella claimed only Raven could accomplish that deed. He had killed Nightwing. He had killed Cyborg, and Garfield and he had to pay for all the lives he had taken and the hearts he had broken! He had to be stopped now, before his evil could spread.

 

Trigon drew himself back up to full height, and his eyes were blazing with anger now. The demon spit out a huge glob of blood and mucus from his throat, and he glared at Kori Anders with intensive fury burning bright in his face. He roared like a lion and then he swiped one of his massive hands at her. Kori used her greater speed to fly out of the way of the hand, but he fired his eye lasers at her and she had to swerve away from the yellow beams; as she did so he swiped his other hand, and this time she could not avoid it. Kori felt his massive bony hand smash into her side and she was swatted out of the sky like a fly being knocked down by a flyswatter. She flew into the hard concrete of the street and she felt her body fill with pain. Her eyes flooded with tears and blood swirled around her vision as it poured down her face from a cut on her head. She looked up, and between the hazy world of tears and blood, she saw Trigon lift one of his feet high up into the air. Kori braced herself for the fatal blow she knew was coming.

 

However, it never connected.

 

Kori shakily wiped away the blood and tears and she saw a strange green animal attacking Trigon, smashing his other foot with a tail that had four long spikes coming out of it. The dinosaur had fins on its back and a strange head; it was a stegosaur, and more importantly, it was Beast Boy, she knew. He was alive!

 

“Damn you!” Trigon screamed as the four long nails split into his foot. The stegosaur that was Garfield Logan let out a huff and raised his tail for a second attack, but Trigon swerved the foot he had planned on killing Kori with around and kicked Garfield, sending him flying into a parked car. He reverted into his normal self and shook his head as he winced in pain.

 

A sonic cannon blast collided with Trigon's horned head, and the demon rounded on Cyborg. The half-man, half-machine stood. He looked a little worse for the ware, but he was fine. He fired a second shot, this one hit Trigon in his eye. Kori watched as the demon screamed and waved his arms in the air as he blinked all four of his eyes in pain. A moment later, a bomb hit Trigon in both of his feet. The first bomb covered his right foot in ice, keeping him rooted to the spot; while the second exploded on his left foot and burnt it with fire.

Kori willed herself to sit up, and she saw Nightwing and Slade standing side by side. They were soaking wet, and both bleeding and bruised; but both of them wore determined looked in their eyes. Kori felt her heart sore when she saw Nightwing alive, and she made up her mind then and there to forgive him for everything and to do whatever it took to make things the way they were before that fateful day ten years ago.

“You humans are like roaches that refuse to die!” Trigon screamed at then.

 

“I've actually heard that before.” Slade mocked, delighted at the pain they were causing the demon.

 

“I've actually called you that before.” Nightwing pointed out with a grin. It seemed strange to see archenemies working hand-in-hand for a single goal, but that was exactly what Slade and Nightwing were doing.

 

Trigon was not amused by the witty banter. His arm began to blaze red, and flames sprouted from his skin. He threw a gigantic fireball at the two, and both of them jumped in different directions. The fireball hit the ground and exploded in a gigantic crater. Nightwing rolled away from the flames and wound up landing very close to Kori, who used all of her, will to pull herself out of the hole in the ground and fly to his side.

 

“Are you alright?” She asked him.

 

“Just like old times.” He replied with a wily grin. He looked at her once over and noticed all of the injuries Trigon had inflicted. “Why don't you go see if Gar's alright; leave big red to me and Slade.”

 

Kori nodded. “Be careful.”

 

Nightwing did something that surprised her. He leaned in and quickly kissed her softly on the cheek, which caused her eyes to widen in shock. Then he stood up and extended his bo-staff. “I'll be fine.” He called to her, and then he charged forward at Trigon again. He whipped out a small yellow disc as he jumped over the asphalted road and hurled it at the demon. The disc exploded with great yellow flames and Trigon roared in pain and started shooting his eye lasers at Nightwing, who dodged them all.

 

Meanwhile, on the steps of the church, Slade had found his way over to Arella and the unconscious Raven. All of Trigon's jumping around, from his size and weight, had shaken the ground and caused Arella to fall on the steps and twist her ankle. She was now sitting on the steps next to her daughter's body as Slade appeared.

 

“Wake her up, woman!” Slade yelled at Arella and pointed at Raven.

 

“She is not ready!” Arella yelled back. “She cannot defeat him now!”

“She does not have a choice; this is it Arella, this is the final battle! This is when all the fate of mankind is decided, and your daughter is the only thing that can make sure Trigon loses, SO WAKE HER ASS UP!” Slade had no compassion in his voice, only a rage as cold as ice.

 

Arella glared at him with fiery anger in her eyes, but she turned to her daughter and placed her hands on Raven's forehead. A white light began to surround Raven and Arella and it illuminated the bleak night sky. Trigon seemed to spot this light, because a moment later he turned around and bellowed at them in his thunderous voice.

 

“I think not, Arella.” Trigon scoffed, and he lifted one of his feet high in the air. Slade jumped forward and threw an explosive disc at Trigon's foot, it exploded and Trigon's leg was engulfed in flames. Slade ran away from the steps of the church where Arella and Raven sat, and he continued to hurl explosive discs at Trigon.

 

“You irritate me, Wilson!” Trigon screamed at Slade with hatred in his voice.

 

“You're just mad because I'm sleeping with your wife.” Slade shot back, and Trigon laughed in amusement. Of course, Slade's devious criminal mind had counted on that reaction, and while Trigon was busy laughing at Slade's preposterous accusation, Slade jumped forward and threw another explosive disc. This one flew straight at Trigon's face, and right into the lowest eye on the left side.

There was a huge explosion, and Trigon's eye blew out. Trigon screamed in genuine pain as blood rained down from the sky as it flew from out of the empty eye socket. Trigon glared down at Slade with his three remaining eyes and he shook with fury.

 

“Losin' an eye's bitch, huh?” Slade laughed, knowing the answer from personal experience.

 

“Indeed.” Trigon growled, his voice sounding darker and meaner than ever before. “But this, I assure you, is worse.”

Before Slade could react, Trigon's foot smashed down atop of him and crushed him flat to the ground. The great demon stomped on Slade so hard the asphalt around the impact area cracked and shattered. Arella looked up from Raven in time to see Trigon lift his foot off Slade's smashed and shattered body, and she shook her head and a single tear fell. Slade was crushed like a bug that had been run over by a car.

Slade had taken Trigon's eye, and Trigon had taken Slade's life.

 

Arella closed her eyes, and tears leaked out from beneath the lids. A moment later, she heard a sigh.

 

“What is it with you and falling for the bad guy?” Raven asked her mother sarcastically, without any real compassion at the moment. Arella opened her eyes and saw her daughter was awake.

 

“Raven, you must -”

 

“Fight dad? Yeah, I know.” Raven cut her off and lifted up to a sitting position. She sighed, and then she hugged Arella tight. “Mom, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've always hated you, I'm sorry I blamed you for all of this, and I'm sorry you have no luck when it comes to men.”

Raven could sense her mother's immense sadness at Slade's death, and she did truly regret it happening for Arella's sake. Raven let go of her mother and turned. She saw that the scene on the street was getting worse. Nightwing, Kori and Cyborg were huddled together near a parked car, and Trigon was advancing towards them with glee in his face.

 

“I killed one of you, now for the rest.” Trigon breathed.

 

“I may not have seen eye to eye with him on most things, but Slade did have a good idea.” Nightwing grinned. He had already whispered his plan to Kori and Cyborg; neither of them liked it, but they knew better than to second-guess Nightwing. He was, after all, their leader. The Titans had regrouped, and Nightwing had the same job now he had had back ten years ago.

 

Nightwing ran forward and tossed an explosive disc at Trigon's foot, and Trigon laughed. However, as He aimed his focus on Nightwing, Kori put her hands together and fired a gigantic starbolt, and Cyborg shot off a round from his sonic cannon. Kori's starbolt hit Trigon's top left eye, and Cyborg's cannon hit the bottom right equivalent. Trigon screamed as two more of his eyes exploded and he lost three-fourths of his vision. Nightwing grinned and jumped up, aiming an explosive disc at Trigon's final eye.

Trigon fired a laser from that eye at Nightwing's hand before he could release the disc. The disc exploded in Nightwing's right hand, and the hero-formerly-known-as-Robin screamed in pain as it detonated prematurely.

 

Kori screamed and flew to catch him. Nightwing landed in her arms, as one of his own arms fell a few feet away on the pavement. Kori, horrifically, realized that his arm had been blown clear off his body. Nightwing screamed, pain overtaking him in a way he had never even thought possible. Trigon laughed.

 

Cyborg aimed his cannon again, but Trigon was too quick. He fired another eye-beam laser and it hit Cyborg in his chest. Cyborg grunted as a hole was burnt right through his chest, and then he fell backwards without another sound or movement, joining Slade in death.

 

“Kill us if you want too, you're still going to fail.” Nightwing screamed up at Trigon.

 

“Well, you were right about the killing you part anyway.” Trigon taunted him like an angry child.

 

Trigon's arm blazed to life with flames, and he threw a gigantic fireball at Kori and Nightwing. Kori squeezed him tight in her arms and closed her eyes, but a moment later, an angry female voice filled the sky.

 

“Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!”

 

Kori opened her eyes and saw the ball of flames had been stopped in mid-air, surrounded by a white aura. Trigon's single eye widened and he whipped around to see Raven flying in the air. She was shaking with fury, and white light surrounded her body. Trigon froze on the spot as he saw his daughter shimmering with white light.

 

“Raven, you are awake. It does not matter, you will not survive for lo—ARGH!”

 

Raven waved one of her hands and the fireball surrounded by white light turned and hit Trigon in the side of his head. The flames meant to kill Nightwing and Kori exploded and covered Trigon's face, engulfing his silver mane in the flames and causing his skin to blister and boil in the burning, sweltering heat.

 

“I'm not in the mood for evil monologues today, daddy.” Raven told him flat out. She pressed her hands together and fired a beam of white light from her fists that flew straight through Trigon's left knee like a warm knife passing through butter. Blood squirted out, and Trigon screamed too. His weight was too much, and his knees buckles and he fell onto his them. Blood poured out of his wounded knee and pooled up on the ground.

 

“You ungrateful bitch! I will tear the flesh off your bones for that!” Trigon screamed. Raven fired a second white beam, this one severed one of the horns off Trigon's head and it smashed into the ground with a loud thud.

 

“Yeah, yeah, flesh-peeling demon wrath. Don't you ever spew any new nonsense, I've heard all of this before.” Raven mocked him, every bit as sardonic as he father. Trigon shook with rage, but a moment later, he calmed down and did something that truly terrified Raven; he smiled.

 

“It's time we settle this. You may be my daughter, but you're also human.” Trigon scoffed. “Goodbye, Raven.”

 

Trigon opened his mouth and flames jumped out of his throat and flew at Raven. She threw up her arms and created a shield of white light that caught the flames, but Trigon did not lighten up. He continued to spew bright hot fire at her, and she shook from head to toe as she tried to contain it all inside her white aura. Arella watched with panic in her eyes, unsure if her daughter could contain Trigon's grizzly wrath forever.

 

Meanwhile, down on the street, Garfield had just awoken. He looked around at the crumpled body of Slade, the fallen form of Cyborg, and the injured Nightwing. He saw the sadness in Kori's eyes, and the struggle in Arella's face. He then looked up and saw Raven, the girl who had stolen his heart years ago, fighting not only for her own life, but also for the lives of everyone on the planet. Garfield knew he had to help her somehow, but he did not know how.

 

Think Gar! This is Rae we're talking about, you've gotta help her! He looked around, and he saw Trigon. He noticed the way the demon was down on his knees as he breathed the bright flames, and Beast Boy wondered if there was a way to exploit his injury.

Then an idea came to him. It was a disgusting idea, and the very thought of it made his nauseous to his stomach. However, he knew it could help Raven, and for her he would do anything, even this. Beast Boy transformed into a tyrannosaurs rex and charged forward. His hip was killing him from his earlier injury, and he squeezed his eyes in pain, but he fought through the bitter sting and continued on forward. He opened his mouth to reveal the long, razor blade like teeth. Trigon was so preoccupied with Raven that he did not even notice Beast Boy charged in between his knees.

Gar closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and bit down hard.

 

Trigon screamed. His final eye widened in pain and he choked on his own flames and swallowed a mouthful of them. He looked down to see Garfield biting him between the legs and he knocked the dinosaur away with a swing of his massive arm, causing Garfield to fly into a nearby building and hit the wall full speed with his back. Garfield reverted to human and hit the pavement.

 

“Dude. Need. Mouthwash.” He muttered as he spit on the street.

 

Raven shook as she survived the last of Trigon's flames. Trigon was obviously pissed at Garfield for what he had done, and the demon twisted his body around and glared at the small green man lying on the street. His eye flashed dangerously and Raven knew her father was preparing another laser eye attack; this one meant to kill the man she loved.

“NO!” Raven screamed, and from her chest shot a bolt of white light shaped like a gigantic raven. The white-bird flew with a screech and sailed right through Trigon's neckline. It's white, feathery body cut through his scaly, lizard-like flesh with ease and passed out the other side. Trigon froze on the spot and coughed once, a cloud of mist-like blood spewing from his mouth.

Then his head fell off.

 

Trigon's head separated from his body and came crashing down on the street in front of him. Then the rest of the demon fell backwards on the street behind him. Raven looked down at the wreckage of her father's body, but she felt no comfort in his death. She could see Cyborg and Slade dead, she saw Nightwing, Kori and Garfield injured, and she saw her mother heartbroken and afraid.

Then Raven felt something strange. Her body began to shake violently, and she blacked out.

 

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All she could hear at first was the soft humming of machinery nearby. She could not quite place the sounds, but they were all familiar. A low, mechanical buzz that continued on at the same steady pace. There was also a beeping; it seemed to be accelerating in frequency and growing in pitch. It sounded almost like an EKG heart monitor, like the kind found in hospitals.

 

What is a heart monitor doing in my room?

 

Raven opened her eyes, but she quickly shut them again. During the brief second they had been open a white light coming from directly above her head blinded her. That was something new. She did not remember installing any overhead lights in her room; only her bedside lamp and the candles she usually burnt that sat on the table beside her bookshelf. Raven opened her eyes once again and blinked several times until they adjusted to the light. Then she gasped.

 

This was just like what had happened when she first woke up from her coma, but with one big difference. She was not in an unknown hospital bed, this time. She was in a hospital bed, in the hospital wing of Titan's Tower, in Jump City.

 

“You're awake.”

Raven looked over to her right and she gasped again; her eyes as wide as baseballs. The sight she saw seemed impossible, and she blinked her eyes several times to adjust to it.

Robin sat in front of her. Not Nightwing, the bold and brave hero who had lost his arm fighting Trigon; but Robin. The young, spiky-haired youth in the yellow cape who had always been something of a brother to her. She tried to speak, but words came out in broken fragments.

 

“You. But. How. What. Trigon.”

 

“Relax Raven, it's over.” Robin told her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. The fact that she had seen him lose that hand a few minutes ago sent a shiver down her spine.

 

“Robin, what the hell is going on?” She asked him.

 

“Arella will explain downstairs.” Robin reassured her. “I left a change of clothes at the foot of your bed. I'll see you down in the living room as soon as you're ready. Beast Boy's waiting on you, so hurry up.”

Just like that, Robin walked out of the sliding glass door of the infirmary and she watched him vanish. She threw the blanket off her body and she noticed several changes to her physical form. She jumped off the bed and quickly ran to a mirror on the wall. She saw the eighteen-year-old version of Raven staring back at her. She shook her head in amazement. Just a few days ago she had woken up, ten years older than she remembered, and this whole thing had begun. Now she was young again. She turned back to the bed and saw a familiar skin-tight black cat-suit and a blue cape and hood lying on the edge. She smiled and quickly changed, then she headed out the sliding glass door and down into the living room of Titan's Tower.

 

“Raven!”

The second she stepped into the room she found herself assaulted by Starfire and Beast Boy, who both jumped on her and threw their arms around her. Raven was sent tumbling down onto the carpet as the Tamaranian girl and the shape shifter hugged her. Beast Boy sneaked in a kiss, which didn't surprise her knowing his personality. What did surprise him, though, was that she returned that kiss to him. She kissed him right there on the red carpet of the living room of the tower, in front of all their friends.

“Isn't that sweet?” A cold, condescending voice asked. Raven's eyes opened and she broke away from Beast Boy. Slade was leaning against a wall, Arella standing at his side. Raven felt a cold pain in her stomach at the sight of him alive, but as her eyes settled on her mother beside him, and she saw the relieved happiness in Arella's eyes, Raven decided not to respond to Slade's sarcasm and instead she lifted herself to her feet.

 

“Okay . . . someone want to explain?” Raven asked.

 

“Well.” Cyborg walked out of the kitchen, holding a ham sandwich. Beast Boy glared at him, but Cyborg ignored the dirty look. “Arella was just explaining it to us, so you might want to ask her.”

 

“It was you who did this Raven.” Arella explained to her daughter.

 

“Me?” Raven asked, confused.

 

“Yes. You do not yet realize it, but you possess power beyond that of anyone or anything else. When you saw what Trigon was doing, you wished that the world would go back to the simplicity it had been in the time of your teenage years. You wanted all of Trigon's evil to vanish, and you wanted the ten years of life he had taken from you back; and your powers made that come true.” Arella explained.

“I don't understand.” Raven confessed.

“Remember when you fought me?” Slade asked her. “You didn't want your birthday to come, so your powers paused time. This time, your powers simply hit the rewind button.”

Raven sat down in one of the red armchairs. Beast Boy sat on the arm of it, and placed his own skinny green arm around her shoulder. “So you're saying I rewound time? I just erased the last ten years of our lives?”

 

“When you killed Trigon, you did, yes.” Arella confirmed.

 

“ . . . I'm sorry.” She said quietly, lowering her head.

“Don't be.” Robin shook his head. “Raven, you thought Trigon stole ten years of your life; but he took them from all of us. Sure, Beast Boy lost his fame and fortune, I've lost my long hair, and you undid a few things I wish you hadn't.” Robin's eyes suspiciously looked in Slade's direction as he made this comment. “But you've given us all a chance to see what our lives would've been like if the Titans had never split up. You've given us a second chance at happiness . . . and considering the fact I have two arms again and a chance to make up for some mistakes I made, I'm not complaining.”

 

Raven felt a little cheered up by this. She looked around the room. It was amazing to see all her friends the way they had been ten years ago, when this whole thing began.

 

As Raven sat there, in the chair, with Beast Boy's loving arm around her, she thought about what the future would hold. She knew the world was a different place, and she knew they now could do whatever they felt like. She wondered if Starfire and Robin would wind up together, but she highly doubted there was anything that could keep them apart. She also pondered what their future relationship with Slade would be like. He had that same cold look in his eye, but somehow she wondered if his relationship with Arella wouldn't change him. She worried about her mother and he poor judgment and bad taste in men, but she decided to let those concerns stay unvoiced for now.

She also wondered what her own future held. She loved Beast Boy, and she was no longer afraid to admit that to him or anyone else. Trigon was gone, so she had no reason to worry about him anymore. She did not know how different this future would be from the one she had just been in, but she knew she was eager to find out. She would face it with her fellow Titans at her side, and she would never lose them again, no matter what it held.

 

Raven smiled and leaned her head against Beast Boy's hand. She was happy, at last.

 

Trigon was gone, Raven had her life back, and this time she was going to live it to the fullest, come what may. Never again would she deny an emotion, or refuse herself the warm embrace of the man who loved her. Whatever happened to the Titans, she would be there at their side, and they would be in it together.

Of course, this is not truly the conclusion. The Titans troubles were only just beginning. They would face many super villains, evildoers and demented psychopaths again. They would have many adventures and they would have many fights, both with others and each other. The loves they had formed would be tested in many ways, but all of those things are something for another story, at another time.

For now, take comfort in knowing that Raven's great adventure had ended. Her father had fallen, and she had found the love that had been right in front of her face the entire time.

 

The End

(For Now.)

 

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A/N: Thank you to EVERYONE who has read and reviewed this story! You've managed to make it a HUGE success, and I love you all for it. Obviously, this is the final chapter. I'm considering a sequel, but I haven't made up my mind yet. Until I do decide whether or not there will be a sequel, you can read Anything, Anytime, Anywhere For You and The Walls Of Jericho, my other BB/Rae, Rob/Star stories. I promise you'll like them.

Anyway, please leave your final reviews now. I'd love to hear what you thought of the ending. ^^ Plus I'd really like to get another fifty-two reviews and hit five hundred. X_X I know it's a lot to ask, but I've gotten over fifty-two on three other chapters of this story, so maybe . . .

Ah, well, anyway, it's been a pleasure to write for you all, and I hope you liked this story. Whether I make a sequel or not, there will be more teen titans stories from me in the future, so keep a look out for them! ^^
GS, out!