Kiss From The Rose Chapter 11: Hey Dad

Moon Comix: I'm not gonna keep you from the next chapter, here it is! Enjoy!

Terra: What about us? Maybe we want to keep them?

Raven: I don't know how long it's been… but I'm still melting…

"Um… are you Cole O'Malley?" said the boy, nervously.

"Yes, why? Who are you?" demanded Cole.

"Um… my name is… Sonic…" said the boy, struggling to get the words out, "and… I'm… well… I've been told that… that… I'm your son…"

A dark, cold room with small droplets of water dripping from the roof contained only a single being, standing in the middle, their hands raised above their heads, victorious. It had happened. They were now closer to achieving the goal, the goal that had been planned only days ago was now going perfectly.

They were all such fools, all of them. Letting their guard down like that, not being able to fight back. Soon they would all be gone, dead, drained of their life.

Cole didn't say a thing. He simply stared at the boy, a cold look on his face, "nice prank, kid, why don't you tell your friends that you got me?" Cole then slammed the door in the boy's face and walked over to his couch, sighing loudly.

But the boy knocked on the door again, louder this time. Cole simply ignored him, wondering when he would give in. Five minutes later, Cole had given in and stormed over to the door, wrenching it open.

"What?" hissed Cole, "what do you want from me?"

"I want to know who the hell I am!" yelled the boy, louder than any voice Cole had ever heard, "I've been told that I'm your freaking son and I want to know if that's true or not!" Cole stared at the boy and recognized things he hadn't seen before. His nose, the hair, the eyes. Her nose, hair and her eyes.

"What's your name again, kid?" asked Cole, curious now.

"My name's Sonic," said the boy, "I'm a member of the Teen Titans… that's about it."

Cole stared at him again, "Sonic? What kinda name is that?"

"I don't know," said Sonic, slightly frustrated now, "all I know is that Sonic is that name Darkening gave to me when he was kicking the crap out of me."

Cole's eyes had widened in fear and Sonic stared into them, wondering what the man was thinking.

"He sent you…" said Cole, terrified, "I didn't give him the boy and this is his revenge… you're here to kill me…"

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Sonic, "nobody sent me… well, Benedict did, but I came here because I wanted to know some stuff about my past…"

"Darkening didn't send you?" asked Cole, still suspicious of the boy standing in front of him.

"No! He's dead; he's been dead for about a year now… wait!" Sonic just realized what Cole had said, "How the hell do you know Darkening?"

"Deal with the darkness…" muttered Cole, leaving the door wide open and wondering over to his couch, muttering things to himself. Sonic stood uncomfortably at the door, not knowing what to do.

"He took him… he killed her… he dropped the bag at my feet…" Cole wasn't making any sense to Sonic, "the age would be right… and her eyes… they are Amy's eyes…"

"Hey! Do you still want me to stand here?" asked Sonic, irritably. Cole suddenly looked up at him as if he only just noticed him, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"How old are you?" questioned Cole, "why did you serve Darkening? Why are you here?"

"What is this, Twenty Questions?" asked Sonic, "I'm seventeen, I didn't serve Darkening willingly, he kidnapped me and forced me to and I'm here to find out who the hell I am!!!!" Sonic didn't mean to use his powers but he couldn't control his anger. His voice was amplified to at least five times and it shook the entire building. Cole stared at him with wide eyes before a shocked expression came to his face.

"That power… the power of sound… that was why he took him… that was why he came…" muttered Cole before meeting Sonic's eye and stepping back from the door, "come in."

"Has anyone else noticed something wrong?" asked Cyborg as he sat with Starfire and Terra in the lounge. Robin was still checking up on the girl Beastboy had brought in and Beastboy was not attached to Terra's side.

"No… not really," said Terra, "why?"

"It's been two hours since we brought in that chick," said Cyborg, "and since then, Robin's been at her side and Beastboy's hasn't been your Siamese twin. There's something not right about what he's saying… he's not himself."

"Maybe Beastboy is simply shocked from the Girl Fans incident," said Starfire, "you were all shocked."

"Yeah… but it shouldn't have affected him this much," said Cyborg, rubbing his arm, "I just don't have a good feeling about this, that's all."

Terra stood up, stretching, "I'm gonna go find Beastboy. If you want, I'll bring him here and we can torture him until he talks."

"Terra, I'm being serious!" said Cyborg.

"Okay… calm down… I'll just bring him here anyway… and I'll hold him down while you burn him with a cigarette." Before Cyborg could retort to that, Terra had walked off.

Raven sat in the car, thinking about what had gone through her mind in the past ten minutes. She loved Sonic… at least that what she told herself… but did she really love Sonic or did she love him as a friend?

Raven ran her hand over her face and moaned. Why couldn't love be easy? Why couldn't she be like Beastboy and just have no thoughts all together? Raven then chuckled to herself as a pole beside the car bent over as a result of her powers.

"Am I that desperate for an answer that I want to be Beastboy?" Raven asked herself as she got out of the car. It was too stuffy for her liking and she wanted to be free, even if there was no roof at that moment.

Raven looked around at her surroundings while leaning on the car bonnet. She couldn't see anyone around her, no one on the surrounding pathways, no one on top of the buildings, no one looking out of their windows.

But just because you can't see them doesn't mean you're alone.

"Beastboy?" asked Terra as she opened the door to her boyfriend's room, "are you in there?" She didn't get an answer from the surprisingly dark room. She walked in further, "Beastboy? Where are you?"

There was a noise from behind her and she turned around, ready to fight if she needed to. Nothing, it was probably some of Beastboy's clothes falling off his bed, thought Terra as she turned around again.

If anyone else had turned around, they would have been shocked that someone was standing there, but this was Terra, girlfriend of Beastboy. She had seen every crappy horror movie ever invented and she knew that the monster or serial killer would always be there.

Terra didn't just turn around; she swung her leg around to protect herself. But there was nothing there. No monster, no serial killer, nothing.

"Oh well," said Terra, "maybe he's in the gym…" Then she screamed. Of course Terra had never thought to be ready on the second turn. They had never done that in the movies.

"Did you hear that?" asked Cyborg, his right hand turning into his cannon. Starfire nodded and the two of them ran towards Beastboy's room, the location of the sound. The door was closed so Cyborg kicked it down dramatically and the two heroes ran into the room, ready to fight.

What they saw freaked both of them out.

Terra and Robin, kissing passionately in the middle of Beastboy's room.

Starfire didn't try to hold anything back. She immediately burst into tears and flew from the room. Cyborg just lowered his arm, shocked. He had no idea what to do about it; he had no idea why they were doing it. All he knew was that two people in a stable relationship were cheating on their partners.

"The hell…?" was all Cyborg could come out with, causing the two to stop kissing. They stared at Cyborg, Robin's arms still wrapped around Terra's waist.

"Can't we have a bit of privacy?" snapped Terra, uncharacteristically, "get lost!" The two then went back to their kissing, apparently not caring if Cyborg watched or not. The robotic man eventually tore himself away, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Starfire had flown into her room and crashed onto the bed, sobbing into her pillow. How long had it been since they had toured the world? How long had it been since he came after her? How could he do that to her?

In her anger, her hand erupted in a starbolt, creating a hole in her bed, but she didn't care. All she cared about was emptying every single tear from her eyes.

"I know that you're there," muttered Raven, "I just don't know where…" She scanned the area, acknowledging that they were brilliant at hiding. She heard his footsteps coming closer and closer to her and she felt the person press down on the car. She turned around swiftly and came face to face with Benedict.

"Very good, Raven, very good. I didn't think you could have sensed me," chuckled Benedict, rather maliciously, "you're the first one yet. But then again, for normal people, I like to leave a few clues."

Raven shook off this rather cryptic sentence and stared at him, realizing that she could see his face for the first time. He had dull, uncoloured pupils and a pale face. On his forehead were three dots arranged in a triangle. His mouth was slightly triangular and misshapen, as if something was bulging slightly underneath it. His lips were a pale shade of purple and the small strands of hair she saw poke under his wide hat were very grey.

"What are you doing here?" asked Raven, she wasn't going to take any of his crap.

"I only wanted to see Sonic's touching reunion with his father," said Benedict, "it isn't going well. But you already know that, don't you." Raven said nothing so Benedict continued, obviously enjoying this, "you didn't want Sonic to do this, did you? You thought that if he found his father, he wouldn't have any time for you. You thought that he would toss you aside to be with Daddy-Dearest."

"Shut up," snapped Raven, "you don't know anything about me!"

"I know your full name, Raven Arella Roth, your mother and father's names, the place you were born, your blood type, a smooth A negative," Benedict paused at this one and Raven thought she saw his tongue run over his lips, "your deepest secrets, the fact that when you first met Sonic, you despised him, until, and I find this rather cliché, he saved your life." Benedict paused as if letting the information sink into Raven, "I know that you had very basic control over your emotions until you defeated Trigon, I never figured out how the hell you did that by the way, and then you found that you could feel many more emotions that you couldn't before, such as love. I know that when you first joined the Titans, you stayed in your room for an entire week simply because you were worried that you might explode or something stupid like that."

Raven stared in shock at the fact that this man, this man that she had barely met, knew all those things, some things that she had never told anyone in her life, things that she never would tell anyone.

"So Raven Arella Roth… do you still think I don't know anything about you?"

"Beastboy?" asked Cyborg as he walked into the infirmary. Cyborg was starving, he needed food, but this was more important. He found the green boy he was looking for sitting beside the girl that he had rescued, making sure she was okay, "have you heard anything about Terra?"

"No, dude, I haven't seen that dudette since this morning, dude," said Beastboy, the words coming out in his voice but it still made Cyborg think something was wrong, "what's up, dude?"

"Okay… don't get angry at them or anything, well, you can be angry, but just don't attack them or anything," said Cyborg, sitting down beside his friend and taking a deep breath, "okay. Starfire and I saw Robin and Terra… making out."

Cyborg had prepared for the worst. He had prepared for Beastboy yelling and screaming and wrecking the equipment in the room. He had prepared for Beastboy breaking down in tears and becoming inconsolable. He had even prepared, slightly, for Beastboy becoming the Werebeast and going on a rampage.

What he hadn't prepared for was this, "that's cool, dude, let 'em."

Cyborg did a double take where he sat, "that's… what?"

"I said, that's cool, dude, you need to get your ears checked dude," laughed Beastboy, "hey, do you think this dudette will be okay?"

"Wait, you're okay with the fact that your girlfriend is cheating on you? With one of your best friends?" Cyborg had to be sure that his hunger wasn't affecting his hearing, "the girl you've been crazy about for the past two or three years? Are you positive?"

"Yes, dude! I'm okay with it, alright dude?" snapped Beastboy, "now do you think she's gonna be okay?" He turned back to the girl.

"You are weird, man," said Cyborg, "I mean, you're crazy about a girl for two years and then you suddenly don't care, it's as if you're hypnotized or something."

"Now that's just crazy," said the girl, causing Cyborg to look at her, "Cyborg, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm Venus, sorry for taking up an extra bed," she said, smiling slightly. Cyborg smiled slightly as he began to smell an interesting aroma. It was interesting, it made him want to do… something, but that's crazy. No one told Cyborg what to do but Cyborg… and occasionally Jinx.

"That's okay, as long as you get better," said Cyborg, hating the aroma more and more with every second it was around him, "well, I'll see y'all later."

"Wait," said Venus, propping herself up on her elbows, "wait, come back. Don't you feel something?"

"Um… no, not really," said Cyborg, "unless you're counting the feeling that I want food."

"Well I'm not," said Venus, almost coldly, "you don't feel anything… anything drawing you to someone?"

"Nope, not a thing," said Cyborg, now suspicious, "well, see y'all later."

The robotic man walked out of the infirmary and closed the door, sighing. What was going on in his tower? Robin and Terra are kissing, Beastboy doesn't care, Starfire's heartbroken somewhere and there's this weird chick taking up a bed.

"Why do I have the feeling that something's gonna go down later?" Cyborg asked himself as he walked through to the kitchen. When he reached there, his hunger had gone. And when that happens to Cyborg, it's always a bad sign.

"So… are you gonna tell me what you're going on about?" asked Sonic as he sat uncomfortably on one of Cole's dining room chairs. It was cold and hard, as if it wasn't built for people to sit on it, "and what's with this chair?"

"Oh… I don't know why I bought that," said Cole, sitting on the other side of the table from Sonic, "but that's not important. The point is… you think you're my son, sorry, you say you're my son. I haven't seen my son in fourteen years. Darkening took him away, he destroyed my home and everyone there, and he killed my wife. I'm not going to say that I remember that night as if it was yesterday; I'm not going to say that it haunts my dreams every night. What I will tell you is what I can recall, the important parts."

Sonic leaned closer, as if he thought Cole would begin to whisper, as Cole took a deep breath.

"My wife was a beautiful woman, she was kind, she was sweet and I loved her with all my heart," began Cole, his eyes misting over as he recalled her, "we met four years before our son was born, we married two years after we met and he was born two years after that. She loved playing guitar, she practiced everyday, so when I proposed, I gave her the best ring I could afford and a small…" Cole choked.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with Darkening?" asked Sonic, but Cole ignored his question.

"Nine months after he was born, our son said his first word," continued Cole, his voice filled with pride, "he said 'muse'. We thought he was going to say the place where we lived at the time, which was Musika, but it was simply muse. We don't know why that was his first word, but we were proud of him anyway. Three months later, we noticed something different about him. One day we left the baby in his crib with the radio on, I can't remember what song it was, I think it was one of my tapes; anyway, the point is the baby liked it, really liked it. He liked it so much, he was laughing. And we heard his laughing and then we heard the music get louder and louder."

"So the kid had reached up and hit the volume button," said Sonic, "smart kid."

"That would have been impossible," said Cole, "The crib was on the other side of the room from the tape deck. When we came in to see how the volume was going higher, we found our baby pointing at it and giggling. When he stopped pointing at it, the volume stopped getting higher. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

"That's kinda like what I do," said Sonic, "I command sound." He exhaled some air and motioned for Cole to continue.

"That wasn't the only time he had done something like that, one time we were cleaning and using the hover, now he didn't like that one bit. So he just pointed at it and it stopped making the noise, it continued to work but it just didn't make a single sound, ever again," Cole paused, trying to think what to say next, "Anyway, two years after the first time he did something special, we received a knock on our door. When we answered it, we found the strangest man I've ever seen. He had half his face covered by hair and the other half stuck out at odd angles, it was strange."

He shook slightly at the memory; "he told us he had a proposition for us. We let him sit down and he told us about a machine that he had built. He had built a machine that needed someone to power it, someone with a certain power. He didn't tell us what the machine did or why he built it, but he told us that it needed something called zinothium to run it, I didn't know what it was." Sonic had tensed up but Cole seemed not to notice, "He told us that he wanted our son to run it, to make this machine work, to power it. He told us that our son had a power, that he could control sound. Does this sound familiar?"

Sonic couldn't do anything; he was still taking all the information in. Cole seemed to understand.

"He said he would pay us, he would give us millions, tens of millions for our son," Cole tensed up just as Sonic had done, "he wanted to buy our son… can you believe that? He wanted to buy our son, our three-year-old son!!! Of course we refused! We told him to get out of our home and never come near our son again; he left but told us to spend tonight doing our favorite things, to spend it together and not taking it for granted. We didn't understand what he meant by it, but my wife had a strange feeling. I trusted her, so we decided not to sleep that night, just in case something was to happen. And then it hit, the thing that destroyed Musika."

"Darkening."

"Yes," said Cole, "he attacked the first house on our street and we got the hell out of there. She had the baby, I grabbed whatever I thought we would need and we left the house. It was horrible," he paused again, as if for affect, "Darkening, floating over the centre of the city, surrounded by some sort of dark energy. Every now and again, a house would blow up or catch fire or something like that. We ran away, we forgot about the car, we just continued running until the ground erupted in front of us. We fell to the ground and she slipped something into our baby's pocket. Darkening floated down in front of us, he was laughing, laughing at us. He asked us about what we did tonight before laughing again."

Sonic was hanging onto his every word, even the ones that Cole had trouble with.

"She… she was terrified, not for us but for our son, and she jumped up, running. Darkening… he just laughed, laughed and pointed at her… and then," silent tears ran down Cole's face, "she fell. Blood… everywhere. Darkening floated over, picked the kid up and left my wife face down… he then simply threw something at my feet, a bag."

"A bag?"

"Yeah… inside… was… the money. It was the money he had promised me…" cried Cole, "he said, 'I hope this makes up for this', and laughed before picking me up and flying me out of the city, out of Musika. All I wanted to do was see my wife and he wouldn't let me. I remember Darkening dropping me to the ground and demanding that I never mention him to anybody."

"Where's her grave, your wife's grave? What happened to it?" asked Sonic, desperate.

"There's no grave," said Cole, "her body was lost in Musika when it exploded."

Cole wiped his eyes with his sleeve, "so tell me, Sonic, are you my son?"

"Star!" yelled Cyborg, "Starfire! Where are you?" Cyborg had checked everywhere, in the lounge, in her bedroom, in the gym; the last place to look was the roof. He opened the door to the roof to find Starfire sitting there, her arms wrapped around her knees, stains on the ground where her tears had fallen.

"Starfire? Are you okay?" asked Cyborg as he approached her. She did nothing but continue to stare out at Jump City, "I saw a hole in your room, is there anything you want to talk about?"

There were a few minutes of silence before Cyborg received an answer, "for almost six months, Robin and I have been together. We have been happy, the time has been special. Then I am sent blackened mail by Slade and am forced to leave, yet Robin is the one who comes after me, he saves me. And then he begins the kissing ritual with Terra!!!! Of course I want to talk about something! Have you had your heart broken more than once? I have and it is not nice to feel! I…" Starfire began to cry again, "I cannot stay here. Do not call me for a while, please." She stood up, "goodbye, friend." And with that, Starfire kicked off the roof and flew into the air, leaving Cyborg behind.

"Wait! Star!" Cyborg yelled, waving his hands, "come back!" he sighed, "Damn it…" He turned around walked back to the lounge, incredibly annoyed with how things were playing out today.

In the lounge sat Robin and Terra, both acting like nothing had happened, as if they had not just successfully ruined two relationships. They talked quietly and both looked up as Cyborg walked in, their conversation immediately stopping.

"You know, just cause I'm hell confused about the whole love… square or whatever the hell this is, doesn't mean you have to stop talking," said Cyborg, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a soda, opening the can and taking a long sip from it.

"That's not why we stopped talking," said Terra, slowly and uncharacteristically.

"Good for you," said Cyborg, leaning on the kitchen counter and staring at his teammates.

"Do you want to know why?" asked Robin, rather creepily. Cyborg stared at his friend; something about the masked boy was bothering him, "why we stopped talking?"

"I really couldn't care less," said Cyborg but he knew that they would tell him anyway.

"You didn't feel anything around Venus," Terra practically sang, "and she wants to know why. Why didn't you feel anything?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Cyborg, finishing his can of soda and throwing it into the bin, "and how do you know that I didn't feel anything?"

"She told us, she's always telling us," said Robin.

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you? Something is happening with you and I wanna know what!" yelled Cyborg as the door to the lounge opened. He turned around and saw Venus standing there, as if she hadn't been injured at all. Beastboy stood behind her, his face blank.

"Cyborg, Cyborg, Cyborg," sang Venus, her voice malicious and dripping with something that sent a shiver down Cyborg's spine, "you haven't figured it out yet? And they call you the smart one."

"If no one tells me what the hell's going on, I will start getting angry!" shouted Cyborg, hearing something unsheathing behind him, "you have to the count of five."

"You won't need that, Cyborg," smiled Venus, "because you'll be leaving now." Before he could react, Cyborg felt Robin's Bo staff around his neck, pulling him backwards. He then watched as Beastboy changed into a gorilla in front of him, lifting him up and throwing him through the window.

Cyborg yelled all the way down, feeling a cut on his arm where the glass had broken. When he hit the ground, it rose around him, trapping him inside a rocky cocoon.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" cried Cyborg, slamming his hands on the rock, trying to break out of his prison. He changed his hand into a cannon and fired. The rock began to crack, with each shot he fired; the rock began to break away. Ever so slowly, Cyborg dug through the rock to freedom.

A small hole of light burst through the rock and Cyborg exclaimed in delight. That is, until a small mechanical ball was thrown through, landing at his feet. It beeped for a few seconds before Cyborg realized what it was.

"Ah crap," said Cyborg.

From outside the rocky cocoon, Venus stood with three Titans, smiling as the rock exploded.

"Figure out how to use the internet?" asked Raven, coldly, "that really impresses me."

"Raven, Raven… sweet, simple-minded girl," grinned Benedict, "I know more about your history than you do. You are infamous in the demonic world."

"And you'd know all about the demonic world, wouldn't you?" said Raven, "being one yourself."

"I knew you were clever," said Benedict, as if he were a proud parent, "astonishing that you figured that out in the short time that we've met. You always were good at figuring out things, it could help Sonic finding the Rose."

"What's with the Rose anyway?" demanded Raven, "do you even know who it is?" Benedict nodded in a sadistic fashion, "you know and you won't even tell him?"

"Why would I tell him? This is something he needs to figure out on his own, I can't tell him the main thing he needs to find, that would be…" he searched for the right word, "cheating."

"Cheating… cheating?" repeated Raven, "Do you know what you're putting him through, playing him like this? You're killing him!"

"I know," said Benedict, emotionlessly, like Raven had spoken for many years, "but it will all be worth it in the end. Be sure of that."

"Worth it for who? Sonic or you?"

Benedict ignored her, walking around the car until it was between them, "you ever wonder why there was never a body?"

"What are you talking about now?" asked Raven in a tired voice.

"Your love," he taunted, "did you ever wonder why there wasn't a body?"

"And I thought you were perceptive," sighed Raven, "because in case you haven't noticed, Sonic has a body, its what he's been using to get to places."

"I mean Darciot's body."

"I'm going to kill something," moaned Cyborg as he picked himself up off the hard stone ground, "and I think it's going to be green." The blast had hurt, he could admit that, but what made it more painful was bouncing off the sides of the stone igloo that was still standing. Terra really knew her stuff.

Voices were coming from outside the stone prison; the loudest one was from Venus. He tried to shut it out, it was probably just gloating, all criminals did that when they thought they had the upper hand.

He turned his hand into the cannon, placed it over the small hole that the explosive had been skillfully thrown through and fired, not knowing who it would hit. There was a surprised cry and the sound of four people hitting the ground. Cyborg then quickly turned around and ran full pelt at the opposite wall. He slammed into that before changing tact and running at the other wall. It cracked and dust fell from the ceiling. A yell came from outside, a commanding yell, and Cyborg knew he didn't have long to work.

He rammed the other wall again; another crack ran up it, joining the first one. One giant crack now ran the entire length of the igloo.

"Perfect."

He pushed a button on his arm and his left leg dropped off onto the ground. Glad that he had decent balance, he leant down and picked it up, turning it so his foot pointed upwards. Another button on his arm was pressed and the sole of his foot slid back, revealing a small rocket.

"Booya."

"How do you know about him?" hissed Raven, closing the few meters between them in minimal steps.

"I figured out how to use the internet," laughed Benedict, quietly. Raven closed her eyes and turned away from him, hiding her face.

"Go away," she muttered, walking away from the car. She had barely gotten a few meters before she bumped into something. Raven opened her eyes and saw the familiar jacket of the person she had just told to go away, "what the…?"

"As far as I'm aware," he continued, as if not interrupted, "you strangled him to death, quite viciously, if I'm not mistaken, and then his body disappeared." Raven stepped back, folding her arms in a very defensive manner. "Did you ever ask why?"

"Why would I have?" said Raven, "he was dead."

"But you were going to bury him, weren't you?" Benedict said.

"I was…" she said, not knowing exactly why she was revealing so much, "but then his body was gone. It vanished or was taken or disintegrated for all I know!"

"It definitely didn't disintegrate," said Benedict, speaking quietly again, "at least, not until last year."

"Either stop speaking in riddles or get the hell away from me," said Raven, glaring at the man in front of her, "because I really can't be bothered trying to figure it out…"

"How did Darkening die?" asked Benedict, quickly interrupting her, "Sonic blew him up, didn't he?"

"The Sacrificial Spell," said Raven, "but what does that have to do with Darciot?"

"You're not going to make me use the old cliché of 'it has everything to do with Darciot' are you?" Benedict said, in a bored voice, "I'd love to stay here and walk you through every avenue of your past, but I have business to attend to." He looked up at the building Sonic had walked into, "get your boyfriend to hurry up, he has other things to do."

He turned to walk away when Raven called out, "I know what you want with him." Benedict smirked and turned to face her, "you don't want to help him for him, you want him dead and this is some sick way of toying with him."

Benedict laughed and started to walk away from her, "and it's taken you this long to figure it out?"

Venus heard the explosion, but didn't see it. She was too busy running to get as far away from the igloo as possible. Her Robin, however, had been thrown backwards by the explosion; he was too close to the igloo. She assumed that her Beastboy had too been hit by it, but it didn't bother her too much. There were other things she could be worrying about.

"Terra! Get his legs!" she cried out, suddenly, as she turned around to face the now free Cyborg. Terra raised her hands and the earth around Cyborg's feet rose into the air and clasped around his metallic limbs like a mold. Cyborg grunted as he struggled with his bonds before shooting the earth off with his cannon.

"Beastboy! Robin! Up!" she commanded, like a general leading mindless troops. At once, the two boys jumped up from the ground, ready to follow orders.

"And you think these guys are gonna pin me down?" asked Cyborg, "I know what these guys can do; I know how to take them out. Hell, I could do it all day if I wanted to."

"I hope you want to then," said Venus. In unison, the three brainwashed Titans launched their attack, malicious in their assault. Cyborg dodged three boulders as the hurled towards them, jumped over Robin and his Bo staff and rammed himself into a large green bear. He picked himself off of the ground in a heartbeat and leapt at Terra, who was floating around the outside of the fight.

Terra swerved, trying to throw the large metal man off her rock, but Cyborg was quicker, shooting the rock to dust. As they fell, he grabbed onto Terra, her backup rock flashing past them, and slammed her into the ground.

"Sorry, little rock 'n' roller," muttered Cyborg as he ran towards Venus, who was watching the events unfold without getting her hands dirty. She dodged the shot fired at her and smirked as Robin jumped in front of her, throwing a variety of disks at Cyborg.

Unfortunately for Cyborg, they all hit. The arm that was currently a cannon was frozen, while his right leg got electrocuted, sending him to the ground. The rest of his body was barraged with tiny explosions, causing him to growl.

He reached down with his free hand and pressed a button on his leg, revealing another small panel. A few more button presses and he pulled his leg completely off, a slight beeping noise audible to all.

"Hey Robin!" called Cyborg, "catch!" He pushed himself up into a kneeling position and threw his leg as far as he could. It bounced on the ground in front of Robin and Beastboy, who eyed it tentatively. An instant later it exploded, sending dirt and dust everywhere. Venus growled as she whipped her head around, trying to find her prey. She heard his cannon fire, avoided some ice that flew in her direction and rushed towards where the sound came from. When she didn't find anyone except a very dazed Terra, she frowned and decided to re-gather her troops, missing the sound of the Tower's doors opening.

Sonic sat staring at his hands, as if they would give them the words he should say to the man sitting in front of him. He couldn't take it all an, why was he supposed to? Why was he supposed to answer this man's questions?

"I've got to go," said Sonic, suddenly standing up and walking towards the door. Cole stood up, almost as quickly as he had.

"You're not going now," said Cole, "not after you came in here, demanding that I was your fa…"

"Don't say it," said Sonic, quietly and threateningly, "just… don't say that word."

"I didn't ask for any of this," he said, "but one day I was happy, the next thing I know, my wife is dead and my son is gone. My life finished that day."

"Well mine did too!" yelled Sonic, causing Cole to take a step back, "I went through hell after that night and I'm still going through it, even after the guy's dead!" He walked right up to Cole and stared into his eyes, "and all I want to do is know who I am. But… I just can't handle it right now, okay? Do you understand?" He sighed and closed his eyes, "I've got to go. I'm sorry."

Sonic walked right out of the apartment without another word, ignoring the stares that Cole was giving him, pulling the door shut as he passed through it. He was halfway down the hall, with his hands in his pockets when he felt something that he had forgotten about. He pulled out two Titan communicators, staring at them both. One was his own, it was worn in some places and easily recognized as his, but the other was a spare, one that he hadn't planned on leaving with.

He turned around, looked at the communicator one last time and threw it at Cole's door, practically running down the stairs so to avoid another confrontation with the man who shared his blood.

"Venus, the dude's not around here," said Beastboy, "he must have run for it, dude!"

"He only had one leg," said Venus, "he couldn't have gone far."

"Maybe he started swimming," said Terra, floating on yet another rock. Venus shook her head and looked up, as if asking for ideas, seeing the sun glint off the top of the Tower. Then it hit her.

"Terra! Get up to the roof, start there and search the rest of the Tower! Beastboy, fly up to the lounge and start looking there! Robin, go into the garage and work up!" snapped Venus, running towards the main door. How could she have been so stupid? Of course he had gone into the Tower. She was just mentally scolding herself for the fifth time as she reached the stairs, which was around about the same time that the stairs exploded and sent her flying into the opposite wall.

"Gah!" she cried as she felt pain in her back. Growling, she picked herself up and jumped, barely reaching the first stair that hadn't exploded. Cyborg was in his own territory and he had the advantage. Venus heard another explosion and felt the Tower shake a little. It was obvious her foe knew what he was doing. When she reached the lounge, she saw it in ruins. This must have been where the second bomb went off.

"Dude!" she heard Beastboy call from the ground, "help me out!" Venus stared at her pawn with distain before sniffing and moving on, he wasn't worth the effort, and Cyborg was the more pressing matter.

Just as she left the lounge and Beastboy's cries behind, a third explosion went off, followed closely by a forth. The shaking of the Tower caused her to trip up and fall face first on the floor. She growled as she assumed that she was on her own for this part.

Venus checked Robin's room first, as that was the first room she came to. It was empty, aside from Robin's possessions so she passed it very quickly. Starfire's, Beastboy's and Terra's were the same, untouched by the battle that was currently raging. The next room was Cyborg's and she trod carefully here, expecting yet another explosion.

However, there was no explosion, no alarm, no Cyborg jumping out unexpectedly. There was nothing as she walked in and explored her enemy's room. She frowned as she stared at the metal bed, wondering where he could be, as a soft whirring noise came from behind her.

"Don't turn around," said Cyborg, quietly, "just freeze."

Venus chuckled, "which room were you hiding in?"

"Sonic's," he said, walking slowly towards her, "you opening my door set off a silent alarm, all I had to do was walk."

"None of your old friends trying to stop you, then?" she said, as if discussing the weather.

"They're all unconscious or something like that," said Cyborg, "I placed those mines where I did for a reason, you just happened to get the weakest one."

"And how did you know where I was going to be?" she asked, trying to disguise the slowly creeping feeling of fear.

"You can't fly and you don't know the Tower," said Cyborg, simply, "you would have had to take the stairs. There was also one in the lift, but I'm glad you didn't use that one, would have cost heaps to repair." The whirring got louder.

"So what are you going to do with me now?" asked Venus, turning around quickly to face Cyborg, who's face was hard and cold, "you going to kill me?"

"Probably," said Cyborg, "It'll be interesting to see what it's like."

"So you want to kill?" asked Venus, "well, well, well, my master will be happy to hear that."

"Same master that Slade kept rambling about?" asked Cyborg, holding his cannon steady. He saw the look of confusion on her face.

"No idea who you're talking about," Venus said, thinking quickly, trying to stall for as long as she could. She knew that one of her servants would come to her aid, "did it feel good to hurt your friends? You did blow them up with stronger mines that you gave me, so they must be in pretty bad condition. Beastboy was moaning in pain as I passed him. But, since you have such a desire to kill, it's really no surprise that you so easily hurt your friends."

"They would all rather be in pain that under your control," he said, "they've been through worse, they can deal with me." He took another step towards her, "And I'm just a pushover, really, I can't believe you couldn't take me yourself."

"Well, I'm not much of a fighter," said Venus, shrugging, "I don't like getting my hands dirty."

"Well, don't worry;" said Cyborg, "you won't need to worry about your hands any longer." The whirring grew louder before a flash of light encased the room, and then everything returned to normal, the only difference was a body on the floor.

Cyborg sat on the roof of the Tower, staring out at the sparkling ocean and thinking about the events that had gone on that afternoon. It wasn't the damage that had been caused to the Tower, it had been through worse before, it was the way that Robin had acted when he wandered into the room.

Robin saw what he had done, where Venus was lying and only said one word: "Why?"

Cyborg buried his head in his hands as he remembered what had happened only a few hours ago, missing the faint wisp that came behind him.

"You did something bad today, didn't you, Cyborg?" came a voice and Cyborg whipped around to see a tall man in a brown jacket.

"Who are you?"

"I'm sure Sonic's told you about me," he said, walking towards him, "my name is Benedict and I know who sent Venus." Cyborg watched as the man held his hand out, offering it to be shaken, yet Cyborg ignored it.

"What do you want? How'd you get up here?"

"You killed Venus," said Benedict, "it was a very brave and powerful thing to do. But it'll haunt you forever, the memory of her body falling, the beam coursing through her, the way Robin reacted."

"How the hell do you know this?" yelled Cyborg.

"He asked why, but when you didn't say anything, he just gave you a hug," said Benedict, smiling slightly, "nothing more, just a simple hug and then he took her body away, leaving you alone to think about what you've done."

"Shut up."

"But why, Cyborg, did you kill that poor girl? Of course, she had invaded your Tower, but others have done that before her. Yes, she did turn your friends against you, but that's been done before too! What was so special about this girl that made you kill her?"

Cyborg was silent, wishing he could be alone, until he finally came up with his answer, "she wasn't human."

"What are you saying, she was most…"

"No… she wasn't," he said, interrupting Benedict, "Venus was human, before… but she wasn't when I killed her. I don't know how I know that, and I don't know why I knew that, but I just… knew."

Benedict laughed, "Ha, ha, you really are the smart one," he grinned, "Venus was not human, she was just a figment of a human, brought back by someone to fulfill their plans. Obviously, someone wants you dead."

"Big surprise," said Cyborg, "but there was something else… something that made me angry."

"What was that?"

"She made me feel like a robot," he sighed, "you know… part of me wanted to be attracted to her, because it would make me feel human." He suddenly laughed, "and I don't know why I'm telling you all this, I don't know who you are."

"You obviously trust me," said Benedict, smirking, "goodbye, Cyborg." He walked away along the roof before fading into the setting sun, leaving Cyborg on his own to think.

Robin was pulling the couch off of the floor when he heard her. He sighed, knowing what was coming, and turned around, staring into the large, green eyes of Starfire.

"Star…" he began but he was cut off by a sharp stinging to his right leg. Starfire lowered her arm, fresh from firing.

"Do not speak," said Starfire, harshly, "I am only here because Cyborg called me." She began to walk towards the bedrooms, without looking at Robin. He had to stop her from going, he had to fix things.

"Listen, Star…" he quickly jumped to avoid her latest blast, "it wasn't me! It was that girl, Venus." He had crossed the room and reached her, holding onto her arm. She growled angrily and faced him, her eyes glowing, yet she did not pull away, "she took control of all of us. Me, Beastboy and Terra, she made us do what we did. I mean… look at the place!" He gestured to the room, "Cyborg did this, he was the only one who could have stopped her."

Robin looked into her eyes, "You know I wouldn't have done anything like that, you know I wouldn't hurt you."

Starfire's eyes faded from glowing to her regular, innocent colour, revealing tears around the corners of her eyes. A tear flowed down her face as she asked, "But you kissed Terra…"

He wiped the tear from her eye and, smiling sadly, said, "That's only because I didn't want her to get to you."

It was quiet in the Tower that evening. In the city, parties and celebrations could be found all over the place. Families and friends getting together to celebrate the momentous occasion that they had all been waiting for all year.

However, inside Titans Tower, no one felt like celebrating very much. Seven teenagers were sitting round the room, practically in silence, the sound on the TV had been turned down long ago and no one had remembered to turn it back up.

A large, hastily decorated Christmas tree was sitting in the corner, ignored by those who usually would have stared at it with admiration.

The Tower had been repaired, mostly. Cyborg had worked tirelessly, as if fixing the Tower would make him forget what had happened. He had barely said anything since the day Venus had died. He was currently sitting beside the large window, looking out towards the horizon. Robin and Starfire were sitting beside each other, yet their hands did not clasp the other's. Sonic was lying on the floor, behind the couch, his hands over his face, breathing slowly, while Raven sat reading in the kitchen, occasionally casting him glances.

Beastboy, holding tightly to Terra's hand, looked around at his teammates, his friends, and sighed. He reached up with his free hand and wiped his eyes, "Merry Christmas, guys."

It was as if no one had really realized that it was the 25th of December. Robin looked at Starfire, gave a small smile and she smiled back.

"Merry Christmas, Beastboy," Robin said as he gave his girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek, "Merry Christmas, Star."

Sonic sat up from behind the couch and wrapped his arms around Robin and Starfire's shoulders, a loopy grin on his face.

"God bless us, everyone."

"Cram it, Tiny Tim," laughed Robin, "don't be taking the name in vain."

"Didn't know you were religious, Rob," said Sonic, swinging himself around.

"I'm not, I just don't want you to ever be that corny again."

The chill that was settled over the group seemed to fade away and soon enough, there were laughs and smiles echoing around the room. It started to seem like Christmas after all, especially when Sonic and Beastboy started singing carols at the top of his lungs.

And, while he watched his friends celebrating, Cyborg couldn't help but feel apart from the celebrations. He simply watched over the horizon, as if wishing someone would come home.

Terra: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Raven: I'm still melting and no one has done anything for two chapters!!!

Terra: Who will you interview next chapter, Comix? Anyone famous?

Moon Comix: As a matter of fact, I'm getting in Sean Connery, Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett talk about a new film that they're all starring in

Terra: REALLY??

Moon Comix: No! How could you think that?

Terra: Well you said it…

Raven: Alright then! I'll just melt and leave a big, purple stain on the carpet!

Moon Comix: I took up the carpet when I was angry so now it's a wooden floor

Raven: Damn it!!!

Terra: Please Review!!!!

Comix Out