Goodbyes are Hard

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own Element and all other characters that I create.

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Element rolled away from Raven's body on the bed and put his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling of the room, thinking of the past days. It had been a few days since Element and the Titans had taken out H.I.V.E.. After passing out from exhaustion and the beating he had took, Element had awakened to see Raven kneeling over him, healing his body with her powers. The "special" police had come a while after that and took Blood and all of the students, including Blazer, away. After that the Titans and Element had retired back to the Tower, where everyone had immediately gone to bed and fallen asleep. Element's lips perked up in a smile as he remembered the days after that where he and Raven had spent some quality time together, much like the last time he had come. They had finally gotten some nice peace so that they could be alone without worrying about missions they had to do and villains they had to take out.

His smile vanished, though, as the pain of what he knew he had to do tonight flooded in. This time Element rolled completely off the bed, but without falling on the floor. His steps were as quit as could be as Element slowly sneaked around to the other side of the bed. When he got there Element slowly bent down and ran his hand through Raven's hair, careful to not wake her up. He bent his head down a kissed Raven on the forehead, taking one last whiff of her hair as he got back up.

Slowly Element walked out of the room and into the hallway, traveling back to the main rooms of the Tower. His first stop was the kitchen, where he walked over to the table and sat down. Raising his hand, Element made a stone tablet appear on the table, leaning against another stone thing so that it could be easily read. With a wave of his hand, words started appearing on the tablet.

Dear Titans,

This is hard for me to do, after all we've been through, even if it wasn't much. During the night, as you should now

realize, I snuck out. You'reprobably wondering why, of course, so I might as well tell you. The last time that I left, it

was just to painful for me, and I also don't want Raven to feel that pain again. I'm sure that we'll all meet again, and

I'm looking forward to it. There's only one more thing for me to say. Raven, I love you, I know you know that, but I

want you to know that I love you more than I can think of, and someday I will return to you again.

From,

Element.

With a sigh, Element got up from the table and headed out again, this time going towards the entrance hall. He walked down the rows of chairs towards the doors, mind overflowing with the pain of leaving. Well, it's better leaving this way than having to go through all that torture and sadness. Element reached the doors and looked back, remembering when he entered here just a week ago. The look on Raven's face as she opened the door, the sweet sound of the voice as she whispered his name in surprise, the feel of her body as he held her in his arms, the taste of her lips as they pressed together in bliss. With another sigh, Element turned back to the door and placed a hand on it's handle.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Element jumped a little in surprise and turned around to look at the now lit up room. All the Titans were there, Robin, the one who spoke, was leaning against the wall to Element's right in the corner, Cyborg was leaning against the other corner. Beast Boy, in the form of a crow, flew down from the ceiling and changed back into human form, Starfire followed close behind him. And right in front of Element a giant raven appeared and resolved itself into Raven, her eyes cast down and her hood over her head.

Element's eyes filled with deep regret, not from the fact that the Titans had found him out, he couldn't give a shit about that, but from seeing Raven like she was before him. This was what Element had been trying to avoid tonight, seeing Raven this sad and pained. Taking his eyes off of her, Element turned to look at Robin. "How did you know?"

Robin looked away, not wanting to meet Element's gaze. "We could tell that you were going to leave soon, and I knew that you didn't want to go through what happened last time."

"Then why?" Element's voice was a little choked up. "Why did you make it so that it did happen, do you know what it's like for me!" His voice had risen from the pain he felt. "Do you know what it's like, to have to leave the person you love! Do you know what it's like, to see them in so much pain because of you leaving!" Element's voice softened to almost a whisper. "Do you know what it's like, to have the person you love's thoughts in you every second of the day and to be miles away from them, not knowing when you'll be back in their arms?"

Robin's face turned once again to settle on Raven. "No, I don't know exactly what it's like, but I do know that's the reason why we didn't tell her you were leaving."

Element's face had a little confusion in it. "What?"

"She must have figured it out for herself, I don't know how, maybe she read our thoughts or something."

The memory of kissing Raven on the forehead earlier that night came back to Element, somehow it must've awakened her. With a few struggled steps, Element's body trying not to obey his mind, Element started to walk slowly towards Raven. When he finally got to her, Element lifted his hand up and slowly drew back her hood to stare at her tear-streaked face. The pain of having to go through this again and the sight of Raven's face made Element do the one thing that he had done only twice before in his life, he closed his eyes and cried. Like Raven's, Element's cry was silent, the tears just running down his cheeks as the wave of pain washed over him. There was only one thing that Element could think of doing at that moment, he wrapped his arms around Raven and pulled her close, his head resting against her shoulder and nuzzled against her hair as her head rested on his chest. For a while they just stood there like that, until Element pulled away for a second to deliver one final kiss. He pulled away after what seemed like forever and turned back around, tears streaming down his face. As he stepped towards the door Element made a small wave of his hand to destroy the message on the table. When he reached the door Element laid his hand on the handle and opened the door.

"So that's it, then, huh." Beast Boy said in a disappointed voice. "That's all you've got to say?"

Element struggled with his mouth, trying to tell them of all the regret he was feeling, but only being able to get out one heavily choked word. "Goodbye." Element stepped out of the Tower and closed the door behind him, the sound of the door hitting building sounding like thunder to the Titan's ears.

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Element walked down the road leading to Titans Tower, not wanting to fly because of all the pain he was feeling. The tears on his face constantly fell off and landed on the ground in great plopping noises. He struggled not to look back at the Tower, thinking of all the pain he'd experience from it. After a while he reached the edge of the island and stood in front of the water. The sun started to rise on the other side of the city and Element sat down to stare. Memories of him and Raven meditating to the sunset flooded his memories, making even more tears run down his face.

After a while of this Element got back up again and started to put his foot on the water so he could walk across. Suddenly he stopped, his head bent up in dawning. What the hell am I doing? For the love of god, I love this girl. Why should I be leaving her? It's not like the rest of the world needs me so much, they can get on well enough without me. Besides, it seems that me and Slade still have some business to take care of, since he sent Blood to get me. It's settled, then, I'm staying. And with that, Element turned around and headed back the way he came from.

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Inside the Tower, all the Titans had grouped together and stared at the door where Element had just left from. After a while of this they all turned back around and headed up the aisle, all except for Raven. For a while she stood there with her head bowed, trying to deal with the sadness in her heart. Once she was sure that she could move without the pain keeping her back, Raven too turned around. Once she took her first step around, though, she heard the door slam once more behind her and started to slowly turn around at the noise, only to have herself caught in mid-turn and be dipped low in a deep kiss. At first she was startled at what was happening until her violet eyes focused on the pair of grey, Element's, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into the kiss. She could feel the hot tears running down her face, those of hers and Element's, and pulled her body closer to that of Element's.

After a while they separated, Element panting a little as he spoke. "Raven, I love you and I don't care what else is happening in the world, I'm going to stay here, with you, and I'm never going to leave." Once again he kissed her, bending back so that he could let her back up, although they had to stop as the rest of the Titans rushed down the aisle celebrate with claps on the back and a monstrous squeeze from Starfire.

Cyborg started to speak after delivering a huge clap to Element's back. "Man, it's a good thing you decided to come back, cause even I would be pissed if you decided to leave on the day before Valentine's."

A look of shock spread over Element's face. "What? Tomorrows Valentine's? Man, I really need to keep track of the days." Element gestured with his arm towards the end of the hall. "Come on, let me treat you to a pre-Valentine's breakfast to make up for me ditching, but I'll probably need Cyborg's help, to keep Beast Boy away from the food, I'm not going to have him spoil everything with his tofu." And with that, the Titans headed up the aisle towards the kitchen, with an annoyed Beast Boy right behind yelling about the insult on his cooking.

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Raven woke up with a yawn, her arms stretching out to both sides of the bed to find that besides her it was empty. At this Raven tilted her head to the side to examine he other spot on the bed, finding it wrinkled. With a sigh she got out of bed and put her cloak on, wondering why Element had got out of bed before her this time, guessing it wasn't just tea since today was Valentine's. She walked out of her room and traveled to the kitchen, looking about for Element as she entered. The only other Titans up were Cyborg and Beast Boy, who were over at the couch playing video games. Odd, she thought, not even games distract these two from breakfast, maybe they ate fast, or I'm up later than I thought.

Raven turned back towards the kitchen as she heard footsteps, noticing that Element was coming towards her with two plates in his hands. "I decided to make you and me a special breakfast, and as you can see I was able to persuade the two gluttons over there to wait before I was done cooking so that they could eat." Element then walked over to the table and sat the plates down right next to each other and pulled out a chair for Raven. After taking the chair, Element continued and motioned with a hand at all the food. "Now, I'm not sure which specific breakfast foods you liked, so I made eggs, scrambled and sunny side up, pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, toast, and I've got a cup of herbal tea for drinking. And you don't have to worry, all of the meat is made from real animals."

A small smile spread over Raven's face. "Thanks, you must have gotten up pretty early to make all of this."

Element sat down next to Raven and grasped her hand in his as her other hand started to reach for food to put on her plate. "I don't mind, this day is all about me and you," he kissed brought her hands to his lips and lightly kissed her fingers. "I just want you to be happy today." With that he turned to his own plate and started to eat, making sure to grasp Raven's hand in his once in a while so as not to lighten the mood.

After a while of silence Starfire came into the room, happiness spread over her face as usual. "Good morning friends, and happy Valentine's day!" She proceeded by going over to the pair of Element and Raven and hugging each in one of her backbreaking hugs. She then went over to the couch and hugged both Cyborg and Beast Boy, who struggled throughout it all.

"Star, stop, your messing up our game!" Cyborg pushed her off, with obvious effort.

Element leaned over to watch, laughing as he called out to them. "Hey, guys, guess I forgot to tell you, I'm done in the kitchen so you can stop playing those games." Element then found himself looking around in confusion as Cyborg and Beast Boy had disappeared, finally spotting them in the kitchen. "Wow, that was fast." Element's eyebrows suddenly perked up as Robin came in, hands behind his back and walking towards Starfire.

When Robin reached Starfire he tapped her on the shoulder, making her turn around and almost jump on him, arms spread. "Robin, good morning and ...!"

"Wait!" Robin held his hand up to stop her and brought his other hand from behind his back to produce a dozen roses. "Happy Valentine's day, Star."

Starfire squealed in delight, taking the roses and giving Robin a hug, kissing him on the lips after. With a small smile, Element continued with his breakfast, stopping just as soon as he looked over at Raven, who had her eyebrows up. Element lifted his fork up, punctuating what he said. "Hey, you and I both know that you don't like flowers." Her eyebrows were still up as he said this. "Oh, wait, now I think I get it." Element leaned over and planted a kiss on Raven's lips, keeping it there until it was interrupted by talking.

"So, Robin," Cyborg looked up from his cooking. "What are you and Star going to do today for Valentine's?"

Robin and Star walked over from the living room, Robin's arm over Star's shoulder. "Well, we were planning on seeing a movie, going out for breakfast, and walking along the beach during sunset."

Beast Boy turned from his cooking over the tofu to pat Cyborg on the back. "Well, hope you guys have a good time, me and Cy'll probably just be here, playing video games or such, aint that right, Cy?"

"Um..." Cyborg slowly took Beast Boy's hand from his back. "Actually, I'm kind of spending the day with someone."

At this everyone turned their head to look at Cyborg, Robin was the first to speak. "Who?"

Cyborg started to stutter. "Um.. ah.. I.. don't know if I should tell you guys."

Beast Boy leaned against Cyborg's big body. "That's all right, Cy, we don't mind who you want to spend time with, heck, dude, we're kind of happy, seeing as you finally got yourself a girl."

With a sigh, Cyborg, bowed his head and put his hand over it. "All right, I'll tell you. It's Jinx."

Silence followed this remark as everyone just stared in shock at their comrade, eyes open wide. Well, not everyone, Element leaned back on his chair with a dawning look on his face. "Huh, so that's why you two were acting weird around each other at the holding cells." At this everyone turned their stares to Element. "What? You didn't notice him acting strange?"

Beast Boy got off of Cyborg's body to step back and put his hands up in anger. "Man, what the hell! You're going out on a date with her? Don't you know anything, for the love of god she and her gang attacked us!"

Cyborg's head lifted and he jabbed a finger at Beast Boy. "Hey, you leave off of her, okay. Part of the reason she attacked us was because she was trying to redeem herself for Blood, do you know what he would have done to her if she didn't? And don't forget that mind controlling thing Blood does, I'm sure that had something to do with it."

"So, she still had some of her original thought in it, why can't you see that!"

"Beast Boy, stop!" Robin got between the two, who were obviously about to go at it. "For all we know she might be all right now, at least consider giving her a chance."

"Yeah," Cyborg peeked over Robin's head. "Why don't you just give her a chance, we gave Terra a chance when she was destroying the city."

Beast Boy stood still, his face changed from anger to a mixture of sorrow and coldness. With a his mouth set, Beast Boy crossed his arms. "Fine, go out with her, why should I care, it's not like she'll start destroying the city." With that, he stomped out of the room and slammed the door.

Cyborg started after him. "Wait, BB, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"

Element extended his hand. "Let him go, he needs to get this out himself, and hey, if he still looks mad when me and Raven leave, I'll have a little talk with him." After hearing this, Cyborg stepped back and picked up his breakfast that he had just made, bringing it with him to his room to mull over what he just did. Robin and Starfire left the room, following the course Beast Boy took so that they could leave the Tower and head out to breakfast. Watching them leave Element and Raven turned back to their breakfast, finishing it in a couple of minutes. With one last sip of their tea, Element and Raven got up and headed toward the roof to meditate.

Once done, Raven started to walk back toward the Tower entrance, stopping when Element put his hand on her shoulder. "Where do you think you're going, we've got a day to spend." Raven raised an eyebrow. "What? I set up a little schedule for us today." With that, he took her to the edge of the Tower, stepping off the edge onto air as he got there. "Come on, let's fly!" Element tilted his body against the air as Raven stepped off next to him and dived down to the ground, wind rushing against his face as he and Raven tilted their bodies so that the traveled just a few feet above the water. The sunrise gleamed beautifully against the waves of the ocean, silhouetting the couple's bodies in a beautiful radiance. As their hands grasped each other, Element opened his mouth and started to sing. "I can show you the world..."

Raven's flat voice traveled across the short distance to Element's ears. "Shut up."

At this Element burst into laughter, his body shaking from the strain. The laughs traveled over to Raven, at first making her smile, then making her erupt in her own laughter, until, of course, she got hit in her face by a splash of water. She shook her hair, looked over at a grinning Element, and swept her arm, making another splash of water, covered in her dark energy, splash over Element's face. This elicited another splash on her, and the two separated, using their powers to continually splash the other with water. Their laughs echoed across the water as Element shot towards Raven, pinning her arms to her sides in an attempt to stop her splashing. The laughing quieted down as Element brushed Raven's wet hair out of her face, leaning in to kiss her as they were both caught in the moment.

For the rest of the day the two headed to many of the places that they loved the most. Bookstore, coffee house (which served tea), for lunch they headed to a pizza parlor and talked, and many other places. For much of the time they just flew about, enjoying the view of the city. It was finally almost the end of afternoon when they both headed back to the Tower.

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Element stepped out of the bathroom, since he didn't have a room of his own to change, dressed up in a suite. The pants, over coat, which wasn't buttoned up, and suite vest were all charcoal black. The dress shirt underneath it was a light brown, which really went well against his skin, and wasn't sporting a tie, but instead the very top button was unbuttoned. Element walked through the hallway to Raven's room and knocked on the door. "Are you ready yet?"

"Just wait, I've never worn one of these things before, it's taking a while." So after waiting a few minutes in the hall, the door opened to let Raven out in her new outfit.

Element's mouth dropped. "Oh my god..."

Raven franticly looked up and down at her outfit. "What? What's wrong?"

"You're beautiful."

Raven stopped looking and looked up at Element, an annoyed sigh escaped her lips. Her gown was a dark purple which glinted against the light. There were no sleeves, and the gown went over her shoulders, kind of like her regular outfit, but there was a space between both shoulders, giving a good view of her neck. Down one side of her legs, the gown was split from her knee, giving her good mobility.

Element extended his hand towards her, grasping hers gently in his and leading her through the hall, going on top of the roof. The sun was setting, giving a beautiful view, and there was a table set up in the middle of the roof, lit candles, flowers, and two plates on top of it. Element walked over and pulled out a chair for Raven, not moving to his chair until she sat down. They both unfolded their napkin and placed it on their lap. Element started off the conversation. "So, have you ever eaten lobster before?"

Raven stared at the plate and small bowl beside it in confusion. "No."

"Okay, that's good, I guess, since I already had the meat taken out of the shell. Here's some tips, first off, don't take big pieces, that way it lasts longer and you can savor it more. Now, with these, you don't use large forks, but these small ones." He lifted one of his small forks. "You place it on the meat and cut out a small section." Raven followed his example and cut out a small piece, lifting it to her lips. "Wait, you forgot the best part." Raven stopped to stare at Element, who lifted his own piece. "When you cut out your piece, you want to dip it into your butter, that's what's in your small bowl." Element dipped his lobster piece into the bowl, lifted it out, and slowly, with his hand underneath it, reached across the table and slipped it between Raven's lips, who closed her eyes and chewed, savoring the food. Throughout the dinner both of them slowly ate the lobster, enjoying the sunset, occasionally they would trade bites of each others food. At one point when Element reached across to give Raven a bite some butter slipped off when she bit down on the lobster and dribbled down the side of her mouth. At this, Element leaned across the table slowly and kissed the butter off, slowly moving up to her mouth and kissing her, the taste of the buttered lobster still on each other's lips. Finally, when they were done with the dinner, Element got up from the table and walked towards the edge of the Tower. "Come on, let's meditate."

Element could feel the brush against his arm as Raven gently extended her hand. "Actually, I don't think that I need it tonight, I'd rather spend the time with you, watching the sunset."

A warm smile slowly formed on Element's face as he pulled his chair out so that he could sit next to Raven. He wrapped his arm around her back as she gently rested her head on his shoulder. Slowly Element began to stroke her arm as the sun descended below the horizon, darkness finally covering the last specks of light shed by the sun. Despite this, Raven and Element still stayed where they were, staring up at the sky as the stars started to come out. Raven sighed as she nuzzled against Element's shoulder. "It's so beautiful."

BOOM! Raven jerked up from where she was sitting, frantically searching around for the cause of the noise. Element got up and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, it's just fireworks." He gestured towards the sky where fireworks continually spiraled up into the air and exploded into their colorful designs.

After her breath slowed down to normal, Raven stared back at Element, a curious look on her face. "Did you know about these?"

Element stretched his hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, I was hoping that when me and you meditated you would fall and I'd catch you, like that one time before, remember?"

Raven turned her head back at the fireworks. "Yeah."

Element sidled up next to Raven to stare at the fireworks with her. After a while, Element raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, music started to play, loud enough to be heard through the din of the fireworks.

I see skies that are blue,

and clouds of white.

The bright blessed day,

the dark sacred night.

And I think to myself,

what a wonderful world.

Element stepped away from Raven and held his hand out. Raven sighed and took it, drawing close to Element and putting her arms around his neck as he put his around her waist and they started to slowly dance around the roof. "No wonder you wanted us to where these, I was a little curious when I was hearing of just one meal. I'm guessing you knew about this, too?"

"Yeah, I was able to get Cyborg to help me put the music up yesterday, he also clued me into the fireworks that the city was doing." With that they both continued to slowly dance to the music, looking into each other's eyes. Element slowly bent his head down and engaged Raven into a warm kiss, this time hanging on until the song had finished.

Well I see my babies cryin',

and I've watched him grow.

He'll learn more,

than I'll ever know.

And I think to myself,

what a wonderful world.

The song ended, and Element took his lips off of Raven's to look deep into her eyes. Deep love and caring filled Element's gaze as he spoke. "Raven, I love you more than life itself. I promise that I will never leave you, and that no matter what your trouble, I will be by your side to deal with it. Right now, I know, that one day I want to be the father of your children." Element grasped one of Raven's hands and got down on one knee. "Raven, this has been the best day of my life, and right now I want to make it perfect. Raven..." Element pulled out a small box from his pocket and opened it. "Will you marry me someday?"

Raven's eyes widened as she looked into the box and registered what he had asked. Inside the box was a ring, the diamond on the ring wasn't huge, but wasn't small either, it was just a little bigger than average size. Raven looked into Element's eyes which were full of love, and she struggled to say the words she wanted to say so much. Finally, after swallowing, Raven bent down next to Element and looked him straight in the eyes. "Yes, I will marry you... someday."

A huge smile appeared on Element's face as he wrapped his arms around Raven into a hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning around. Finally, he set her down and kissed her, disconnecting only to take the ring and switch it with the dragon ring that was on her left hand. He raised the hand from where it was and brought it up so that they could admire it. "Look, there's something I want to show you." A circle of water appeared above the ring, enlarging the image so that you could clearly see the diamond. Inside the diamond was sketched the image of a raven being encircled by a dragon. "I made it myself, but it's harder to do this kind of thing than it looks, even with my powers."

Raven looked away from the ring to stare at Element's face, leaning her head in to deliver a kiss full of love that seemed to last the whole night.

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Okay, I'm done, that's it, sorry folks but this is the last chapter to this story, sorry that there wasn't many chapters. Now, just for your info, I'm, going to be taking a break from writing, probably two weeks long, maybe three. So, was this chapter fluffy enough for you? I bet it was torture for Anters, wasn't it? Okay, so tell me what you thought of this story, the pairings, the fluff, the fight scenes, everything you can think of or just want to tell me. That's it, don't forget to look for my next story when it comes out, Relations. That's it. Read and Review!