Auroral » Titans

41|| Raven

Dick carefully pulled back from the hug. His brown eyes slowly traced over the small cuts and bruises scattered across her pale face. His brows drew together and he gently raised a hand to her cheek.

The pad of his thumb traced just below a cut above her cheekbone. The touch was delicate and warm. It eased some of her pain if only for a moment.

Dick opened his mouth to say something when a large looming shadow erupted in the distance.

A surge of urgency and panic returned to Sophie as she spotted Rachel standing near the towering demonic creature.

Rachel's black ichor swirled high into the grey sky, blocking out the demonic creature in front of her. The darkness stilled for a moment before it shot back into Rachel and a blinding shockwave bursted outwards.

Dick's eyes widened before he grabbed Sophie and tossed them both to the ground. He laid over her, blocking her frail body from the harsh wave of coarse dirt and wind. She closed her eyes tight as pain surged through her.

Once the wind settled, a dead silence filled the dead fields. There was no crickets chirping, or wind rustling dead grass.

Sophie slowly opened her eyes as Dick rolled off of her. He sat still in the grass for a moment, staring down at the ground.

A movement over Dick's shoulder caught her attention. Barbara was getting to her feet, her movements were slow and confused. To her left, Dawn was helping Hank up. He stumbled, grumbling in pain as he took the pressure off of his right leg.

Behind them, Jason was sitting on the stoop staring down at the ground, and Donna was standing silently beside Kori; both of them surveying the damage around them.

Gar stood in the doorway of the house, blood trailing down his sickly pale skin and deep purple bruises spotted his face. Guilt pulled at Sophie's heart. She wished she could have done something to help him. Maybe if she had tried harder to stop Jason and Barbara she could have.

"Oh my god Sophie." Barbara's lips parted before she was jogging over. She skidded to a stop before falling to her knees beside her friend.

Sophie gulped even though her throat was bone dry. She looked over at Dick who was already getting to his feet. "Find Rachel." She croaked.

He looked between her and Barbara. Babs meet his gaze for a moment as they silently exchanged words. She nodded slightly before he reluctantly turned and ran towards the grey billowing smoke.

"God, I'm so sorry." Barbara's green eyes darted over her friend's bruised face.

Sophie hated seeing the worry in her friends eyes, she hated seeing the guilt even more. "I'm ok." She forced the words from her sore throat before she eased herself to her feet.

Barbara watched her with wide eyes, ready to catch her if she stumbled. "No Sophie you aren't. I could've- we all could have killed you."

She forced a small smile onto her lips. The cut on her bottom lip stung as it was stretched. "I could've killed you too, so please, don't blame yourself."

Barbara sighed deeply. "You're so stubborn."

"I'm not the only one." Sophie smiled a little bit more.

Barbara chuckled before she looked back at the old house. "I'm going to check on Jason, he's not going to forgive himself for this." She looked back at Sophie with a soft smile. "You're sure you're ok?"

"Ask me after I've slept a few hours." Sophie muttered. Barbara nodded before she jogged back to the house, her cape swaying with each step.

Sophie knew that despite Barbara's reassuring smiles, she was blaming herself just as much as Jason. They both could have done a lot worse than what they did, but they weren't in their right minds. Sophie on the other hand, was when she nearly blinded her friends.

She closed her green eyes and took a breath. Her lungs rattled and a burning pain erupted in her side. She grabbed her ribs with her good arm. She could ignore the throbbing pain in her face but nothing hurt quite like a broken bone.

Slowly she forced her tired feet to move. She limped through the sea of dead grass over to the lifting smoke. Rachel and Dick's figures were covered by a thin grey haze.

Rachel glanced over Dick's shoulder before she ran past him. Blue curls bounced as she jogged over, and a red teardrop shaped gem was placed where her third eye should be.

"I-I thought they were going to kill you." Rachel pulled Sophie into a tight hug.

She stifled her pain and hugged her back. "I wasn't just going to let them win."

Rachel pulled back from the hug and smiled softly. "Are you ok?"

"I was just about to ask you that." Sophie smiled softly.

Rachel rolled her eyes before she placed her hand on Sophie's shoulder. A strange numbness washed over her left arm. The thin cut on her shoulder began to stitch itself back together. The pain that seemed to reach every inch of her body began to lessen until it was just a dull throb.

Rachel smiled softly and pulled her hand away. "That should help a little."

Sophie looked down at her shoulder and gently rolled it out. The pain was gone and she didn't even feel the tug of a fresh scar. "Thank you." She glanced back at Rachel. "But I think Gar could use your help more."

Rachel nodded before she threw her arms around Sophie again. She held Rachel tight against her and a tiny voice in the back of her head told her to never let her go again.

Rachel pulled back from the hug before she looked over at Dick. She smirked ever so slightly before she made her way back over to the house.

Dick watched Rachel walk away before he turned his attention to Sophie. She could see the guilt eating at his heart. It was as clear as ever when he barely met her gaze.

"Don't blame yourself." She closed the distance between them. "You didn't know this was going to happen."

He huffed and looked down at the dead grass. "I almost killed Gar."

Sophie's heart throbbed at the broken sound of his voice. She cupped his cold cheeks and turned his head to look at her. "I'm ok and Gar will be too. What you did, that wasn't really you."

"I know." He rested his forehead against hers and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. She closed her eyes and sighed softly.

"I hate to interrupt." Barbara's voice cut through the peacefulness.

Sophie's eyes widened and she quickly jolted away from Dick. Her attention snapped over to Barbara. She was expecting to see tight fists, hateful glares, clenched teeth; instead Babs stood there with a smirk.

"Babs I was going to say something but then everything happened with Rachel and-" Sophie started to ramble, trying to find a way to explain what was going on with her and Dick without hurting her.

"-Relax Sophie." Barbara chuckled softly and shook her head. "You're my friend, and Dick's a good guy, you both deserve to be happy. Besides," she glanced up at Dick with a warm smile, "we already ran our course. So, do either of you want to fill me in?"