The Last Resort (A Sonic / Teen Titans Crossover)

XXIII. Robin

"... So I don't really remember anything."

I barely remembered Tails' voice, though it hadn't been long since I had come to. I was in the medical bay, my left arm in a sling, sitting up in a bed.

"Did we get Slade...?" I wondered myself why I asked the question. I knew the answer was no before anyone said it. My words were slow and slurred, and my clothes were still wet.

"We were too busy getting you to safety, man," Cyborg answered. "Besides, we didn't even see a single trace of him. We just tracked you and Sonic to a room that was filled with water. You were lucky Raven was there to suck all the water out of your lungs."

"I suggested turning into an ant and drinking all the water," Beast Boy asked, "but I decided it was too much water."

He slumped, as if his idea would have actually help and he was disappointed. "Where's Sonic?" I asked, my eyes trying to drift off.

For a few seconds, no one answered. "Next to you," Raven answered, "and worse for wear. I had to repair some bones, but..." her voice trailed away, and she stared at Sonic. "He should be fine."

Tails promptly sat on a chair next to Sonic, holding his hand. "He'll be fine. He always is. He's been through worse."

"Really?" I asked. I didn't believe that.

"Oh, yeah." he answered. "When he has to turn into his super form, he usually gets all the energy sucked out of him. He sleeps for about a day, then he's good to go."

Everyone looked at each other. "You're making something up out of a comic book." Beast Boy folded his arms. "No one actually has a super form."

"I'm sure he has a good explanation..." Starfire replied.

"You guys said you were collecting the Chaos Emeralds, right?" Tails replied, gesturing with his hands.

"What you say is correct," Starfire answered warily.

"Well, when he gets all the Chaos Emeralds, he turns yellow and has almost a hint of a flame around him. He can fly and is faster than usual. He didn't tell you any of this?"

"No," I croaked.

"I'm sure he had a reason," he said confidently. "There's no reason to not trust you guys. Maybe he just wanted to show off when the time came."

After he said that, I swallowed. None of us could really trust each other with Slade's morphing kid around. I sat up more in my seat, Starfire watching me intently. "It doesn't matter. You four go and rest up; I have an idea about Slade's kid."

"Robin..." Raven warned, as if she knew what I was thinking.

"I know," I told her. "but the rest of you guys rest up. I need sleep anyway."

"Are you sure you are okay?" Starfire asked. "You were, as you say, 'pretty banged up' in that fight with your enemy."

"I'll be fine." I smiled. They finally left.

"Super Sonic is nothing to worry about." Tails said, as if feeling my concern. "The Chaos Emeralds are filled with both positive and negative energy. Slade with access the negative, while Sonic will use the positive."

"So it's like a magnet?" I asked. These gems were getting weirder and weirder.

He paused. "Kind of. Except there's only a few beings it's actually attracted to. One of them is Sonic, and the other couple that can access the energies are on our planet."

I asked the question I tried to resist asking. "Can Sonic use the negative energies?"

Tails looked me in the eyes. "Yes." Then he looked back at Sonic. "But then again... everyone can manipulate the energies. It takes skill to be able to use the positive energy."

Thoughts and worries filled my head. It seemed as if Sonic was more powerful than any of us; at least, he was powerful enough to defeat Slade and then some. He would chose to help us in the end, right?

I fell asleep for what I thought was a little bit, and woke up to a voice.

"Tails...?" Sonic's hoarse voice forced me to open my eyes. "Is that really you?"

Tails buried his head into Sonic's chest. "I was so scared! I didn't think I'd ever get home!"

I noticed a brace around Sonic's stomach and back. That must have happened when he got bashed into the wall. "And I thought I'd never see you again." Sonic struggled to hug him back, but he wrapped his arms around his neck, and laid his head on Tails'. "I really did."

I looked back at my shoulder. Slade's kid really did a number on it. The skin around it was bloody, and it hurt even when I didn't touch it. Moving it was almost impossible.

"Sonic," I moved my head towards the door, "we should meet the others downstairs."

His eyes were wide open, and he nodded. I wondered what his thoughts were.

I grunted and got up, wondering what time it was. There weren't any windows up there. Only the living room could tell me.

It turned out only Starfire was downstairs. "Robin!" she shouted, "The sun is only just coming up. Are you sure you should not be sleeping?"

I smiled. "I'm rested up enough," I told her.

"Would you like to go watch the sun rise?" Starfire asked.

"I - uh," I stumbled on my words. " y-yeah! Sure!"

"Come on, then," she said, "let us go!"

I followed her to the roof, the sun not up past the edge of the roof. We took careful seats to make sure we would see it coming up, then stared out into the sky.

"Sunrises on Tamaran were nothing like the ones on this planet."Starfire said, her face looking like she was lost in thought. "The sun came up quickly and was only up for a few hours."

"Couldn't you still watch them?" I asked.

"They didn't last as long," she replied, "and... I am not quite sure. There just... seems to be some..."

"There's just something different about them?"

"Exactly! Almost like a miracle."

We sat in silence. I felt awkward, and my cheeks were burning. I wanted to say something, but I had no idea what I would say. At all. My eyes constantly turned to look at her, as if she was going to do something. She seemed intently watching the brightening sky.

"There it is!" she yelled, almost making me jump.

The edge of the sun started to come over the building, so slowly we could barely see it move. It did give off warmth... It was... Nice.

"Robin..." Starfire said, looking at me slightly.

I took a deep breath. "Yes?"

"Do you ever think there will be peace anywhere in the world?"

I didn't even hesitate. "No." I looked in her eyes and winced. They were full of sadness. She didn't hate the fighting; she was at least okay with it. "But that's why we have to do what we do. Not forever, but... for a long, long time."

"I will never understand why everyone must fight for what they want," she said, "but I will do what I must to stop it."

She didn't smile or anything. "Starfire... We can still have the same kinds of lives as everyone else. We just have to keep in mind that we could always... die at anytime."

"I know," she replied quietly.

I stared at my arm in the sling. It must have been hard for her to see us seeing any of the Teen Titans living lives just like everyone else when my arm was in a sling, and Sonic pretty much almost broke his back. But I didn't like getting hurt; I just wanted to see the mastermind of the city behind bars.

"I'm sorry I wasn't more careful." I told her.

I looked at her, and she turned to me, and with the spur of the moment, we kissed, the sunset warming our faces.