Longer Than Forever

He stood on the roof of the building and looked over at the city. The breeze toyed with his shoulder length black hair, and his black, one- piece outfit was insulated to protect him from the cold, but did not restrict his movement.

'She was the catalyst that brought us together; we all knew that. What we didn't know was that she was also the glue that held us together.' He sighed heavily, his breath sending out a plume of steam. 'I remember it as if it were just yesterday, not twenty years ago when she left us.' The scene replayed in his mind. Robin and the rest of the Titans confronting Warp, the criminal from the future, and losing. That is, until just before he stepped through his portal to the future. 'She didn't care where Warp was taking the clock, just that he was taking it from where it belonged.'

He looked down and shook his head ruefully as he remember the events of earlier that day. He had been patrolling the city simply out of habit when he heard a series of small explosions. He arrived on the scene just in time to see a man point his arm at someone kneeling down in the snow. As he attacked, his heart skipped a beat as he got a better look at the person he was rescuing. The mane of red hair and that lavender and purple outfit were unmistakable. Equally unforgettable to him was the person he was attacking, but for an entirely different reason. Warp, the one who had taken Starfire away all those years ago. He was frustrated when Warp phased into the ground, escaping, but he also remembered the warm feeling in his soul when he heard Starfire call him Robin.

He would later find out that Cyborg had told her that things hadn't gone well for the Titans since the day she vanished through that wormhole, and he had been right. When they got back to the Tower, He and Cyborg had started analyzing what Cyborg's scanners had picked up and searching for a way to get Starfire back. Unfortunately, except in the realm of science fiction, time travel was impossible.

The breakup of the Titans had been stunningly swift. In less than a week, Robin had become irritable to the point that his being away from the Tower was a relief, as was his announcement that he was leaving for good, leaving Robin behind and becoming Nightwing.

Beast Boy had asked to go with him, but had been refused; striking out on his own hadn't worked either.

Raven and Cyborg tried to tough it out, but the loss of her best friends, Starfire and Robin effected Raven far more than she realized, and she almost completely shut herself off from the outside world.

Without the Titans to defend it, things in the city went rapidly downhill. Several different villains, big and little, descended on the city, and in short order the honest people started leaving. That sped up when Slade surfaced from whatever hole he had been hiding in. With his bots, he ruled the city, but tired of it after about ten years, as there was no one left in it to rule.

"Well, she did manage one thing, didn't she, Raven?"

"She brought us back together, for all the good it'll do."

The two looked out at the snow covered city, and neither noticed the sudden change. The sky was now clear and sunny. Gone was the snow, and the streets of the city were filled with people going about their daily business.

"Richard, Garfield would like to know if we will be doing the evening training today?"

"Why would that change, Star?" Nightwing, replied turning and smiled at his wife.

He thought the smile he got in return was for him, and, in part, it was. There was another reason why Starfire was smiling. It was the knowledge that she knew that the timeline had changed, that she had succeeded in what she had set out to do that day when she came back from the future to Robin and the others.