Epilogue: Life Goes On.

The evening was calm, light dark as the sun had just finished setting. It was the kind of cool atmosphere that tended to make any man drowsy. The feeling did not make an exception for Robin as the teen watched the young woman and her small team work.

These places are always so depressing, Robin thought. But even so, he had felt the distinct knowledge that he had to be here. To watch. To be sure.

To be reminded of his mistake.

He felt no sadness. He felt no grief. He just felt… Empty.

ADAM ALEXANDER MATTHEWS
1982-2001
An errant soul, that now has peace

AURA MATTHEWS
1990-2001
Beloved sister, innocent girl,
sleeps before her time

Robin let out a sigh at the two graves among the thousands on the Jump City Cemetery. The first true failure of their team. It had cost them two lives. Innocent or otherwise tainted. Tainted in a way that could have been redeemed, changed… Maybe even made into a fighter for the side of the angels.

But no more. There's no cheating for death, and Robin knew that.

Two week had passed since the events that lead to Metatron's and his sister's death. Robin remembered all the ordeals he and his team had had to endure even after the immediate threat had been… Dealt with: When they arrived at the Tower, the first thing they all spotted was Aura Matthew's sister. Her small frame had been covered with a blanket by Cyborg, who wanted to give her some dignity. But Robin had still needed to check as he lifted the blanket.

Starfire finally had too much when they saw her as she broke into tears immediately. The small girl looked peaceful, as if calmly sleeping; Cyborg had also changed the expression of her face from the silent scream it had when she died. The only thing that truly told Robin the girl was dead at first sight was the red-tint her entire body had, same color as Metatron's. Another life to add to the list, he had thought bitterly. And a young one at that.

It wasn't over however: Shortly after they had finally relaxed themselves from the events they went through, Mr. Stefan Reynolds stormed to their com-link, yelling and spitting for nearly half an hour about how his sweet little daughter had been severely and traumatically hurt, and how it was all their fault.

In the end, Raven slapped him with a telepathic attack and then broke the connection before he could say another word. They weren't exactly in the mood to take any bullshit at the time: His daughter was alive and would recover, if he had a problem, he could frankly shove it up his ass for all they cared.

But these actions triggered yet another problem, albeit, an expected one: The media. The bastards had made the Titan's response to Reynolds an act of treason and betrayal, starting bad mouthing the young heroes as if their very lives depended on it. A couple had even spread the rumor that Metatron had been some sort of misunderstood child who was brutally murdered by the Titans themselves when he got in their way.

As fucking if.

Nevertheless, while most of the public didn't buy into it, a great part did; causing riots of citizens yelling and demanding for the Titans arrest. It calmed down somewhat when the heroes came down on them and told them to shut the hell up, at the same time giving numerous evidence of the truth that had happened on that place. However, it was only toned down, it was not going to stay quiet forever.

Robin knew that, but he also knew that that wouldn't happen until his team screwed up again. Of course… The screw-up might not be as far as he thought it would be. You never knew.

He could only hope.

As the young female undertaker finally finished her job and started giving request to her co-workers, Robin looked around the place. Aside from him and the group of undertakers, not a single soul was here to see the burial. It had been expected, seeing as even though Titans tried to find someone over the past week, he already knew that all known relatives were dead; but something about seeing it made it all the more depressing. He supposed it couldn't be helped: After all, he did kill his parents.

…Right?

There had been a strange look on his face when he had been accused of the murder. Surprise… Surprised that Robin knew? Or surprise that Robin thought he had done it?

It was another question that would probably never be answered.

His team hadn't come either: They were already forgetting and trying to get on with their lives. Hell, they didn't even know he was here.

It was probably better like this. They'd probably think he was obsessing over this as he tended to do with other things. Maybe he was. Maybe he was obsessing with their first failure as much as he obsessed with Slade.

Slade…

The last problem this whole ordeal had brought him. Where was he? What was he doing? Did he still hold all the cards? Had this whole event actually harmed him in the least?

More questions remaining unanswered. Mainly because the girl was now walking towards him. Robin straightened himself up when she got to him.

"We are… Uh… Done…" She said shyly. Robin doubted she was star-struck so it was probably just her nature.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." He replied, handing over a check for the sum of her work. The girl was a chubby complexion, making her look… Well, 'huggable' is actually an accurate term for her, she had brown eyes and hair, which went down for her shoulders and despite what most would think, she was actually quite attractive, even thought she wore a strange modified gray business suit with purple gloves and a tie, covered by a long, black jacket.

"Were they friends of yours?" The girl asked, blushing slightly. Very shy, Robin noticed.

"Not exactly friends." Robin answered honestly. "… But not enemies either. Rivals. Adversaries. I think that's all." He didn't know why he was telling a complete stranger this. It just felt like she… She could be trusted. Like she just wanted to give help.

"I don't believe what the newspapers say about you guys." The girl suddenly blurted out.

Robin blinked a couple of times at the sudden outburst. Then, when he came to the conclusion she was being truthful, he smiled.

"I'm very happy to hear that, Miss…?"

The girl smiled before answering.

"Matthews." She said. "Sophie Matthews."

Robin arched an eyebrow at the name.

"Matthews?" He asked. "Are you…?"

"Oh, no." Sophie answered quickly, knowing what he wanted to ask. "We weren't related at all, tough I wondered about that at first too. We don't have any relatives named Aura on my family, and since they were siblings… And everyone on my family is human too."

His heart sank a bit, Robin nodded in response. Well, it is a common name.

He finally noticed the group of co-workers waiting some distance away.

"Well, Sophie…" He commented. "Thank you very much for your help. I hope we meet again, in different conditions."

The girl smiled and nodded before walking away. Soon she and her friends were gone, leaving to Teen Wonder behind with his thoughts… And two newly added graves.

Minutes passed, and Robin just stood there thinking. It's not really known how long he stood there, but after a longwhile he finally turned around and walked away.

"Rest in peace."

---

Many miles away, Slade Wilson sat on his throne, blissfully staring into space. Thinking. Planning.

He analyzed all the flaws on his second attempt and compared them to the first one. He was not pleased to realize the first one had gone a lot better. He would need to try a similar approach next time. He needed a new candidate as well. There were so many to choose.

Like the Japanese young man, master (in a manner of speaking) of bachi no kami.

Or maybe the young blonde geokinetic. She has proven to have promising destructive power at times.

So many to choose from. So much potential that could be used… Or wasted.

Well, no matter. Even if he fails again, he'll still try. After all, he still needed an heir.

And above all, He had time.

---

Robin had made his way back home and found two of his friends in front of the TV playing videogames. Starfire, he could see, was on the kitchen, attempting her awkward cooking again. And a couple of minutes before entering the tower, he had received a message from Raven, informing him that she had gone out for a while and would be back soon.

He had been right: His friends were already putting the past events behind them and getting on with their lives.

He probably should to.

"I call winner." He said as greetings. His teammates simply smiled. Before long, Cyborg had won the game against Beastboy.

Not surprising. It was also unsurprising when the metal teen challenged him.

It was even less surprising when Robin easily started winning.

"You know, being part robot, I thought you would be, you know, in kin with your fellow kind or something…" He said, his masked face a picture in concentration as he ran Cyborg's latest challenge into the ground.

"Shaddup!" Cyborg snapped, as he tried to get back in the lead. A rear-dropped bomb weapon from Robin's car pretty much smashed any hope he had of that.

Beastboy, in the form of a bat, hung from the ceiling, watching with great amusement. He always liked it when Cyborg lost: his reactions were priceless and since he usually lost to the black teen, he rarely saw them.

And Robin won the game again. He was about to say something in return when something on his belt beeped and he stopped, withdrawing a com link.

"Sorry Victor, Batman's calling. We'll have to pick this up later." Robin said, as he vaulted off the couch and ran out the door.

He smiled as he heard Cyborg's protest and annoyance even as Beastboy made a comment about 'Robin being ragged' he could not quite get due to the distance. He'll probably have a word with Beastboy about it later. He took out his black communicator.

"Robin."

"I need your assistance." Batman's dry voice said. "Come."

The signal went dead with that.

Robin blinked a couple of times and just shrugged it off, knowing that this was expected from his mentor, who had the manners of a killer white shark. He headed down to the garage without a word to his friends: It probably wouldn't take long anyway.

Soon, Robin strolled out to his motorcycle and got it started, his cape billowing in the wind as he took off. He wondered what Bruce needed him for.

He sure hoped it wasn't to continue their talk about Metatron. He had had enough silent 'I told you so's and small anger the last time Batman had talk to him about it, the very next day after the incident happened.

With these thoughts in mind, Robin didn't see the white figure remove himself from the position he had been on the T-Tower and throw out what appeared to be a white rope, swinging after Robin as he drove.

He continued to follow unnoticed in the same manner, in which Spider-man would have had full grounds to fill a lawsuit against.

---

Time passed. And hour and ten minutes to be exact. Robin had finally taken care of the problem at Gotham (a couple of carjackers), but that had arisen another problem: Robin and Batman had taken care of them. But not alone.

The teen in white who now stood in front of him had helped. A young Metahuman, probably recently 'gifted' by the looks of it, who had followed him out of the strange desire he had had of shaking Batman's hand.

Robin's mentor was long gone, and the kid in front of him was ready to do the same. But…

"Hey wait." Robin said. If Bruce, who was possibly the harshest judge in the WORLD when it came to costumed heroes, thought this guy had potential. "How old are you?"

"17."

"Well then…you wanna come back to the Tower?"

"Your Tower? You mean you'd…?" Whiteman said, his extreme fanboyish attitude he had displayed with Batman coming back a tad.

"Heck, I won't make any PROMISES…" Robin said in a teasing tone. "But at the least we could always use a new sucker, I mean RECRUIT!"

I mean… It's better to have you with us than to one day cross paths as enemies, right? Robin thought, Metatron's history in mind. To have to fight you… When you can do so much more on the right side… Right?

"….Ok then. Sure, I'll come." The teen in white said, after having given it some thought.

"Ok look look, before anything, we have to get properly introduced. I, as you already know, am Robin. Who are you?"

The teen in white chuckled.

"What's in a name? That which we…"

"Can the Shakespeare or I'll leave you here and on top of that I'll drive over your foot." Robin said, smiling: Time to get on with my life as well.

"Sorry."

The teen in white offered Robin his hand.

Every beginning has an end…

"I'm Savior."

But for every end, there's a new beginning.

"Kinda pretentious, don't you think?"

"ARGH!"

You knew I had to add that.

June 6th 2005–October 20th 2005

THE END.

---

Ok, first things first.

Disclaimer: Savior is the property of the author Legend Maker and so is part of today's ending parts of the chapter, seeing as it was taken right out of the first chapter of 'Black and White' (the fic where Savior's legacy begins).

Ok with that out of the way, it's time for the Author's fic after-thought. You might wanna walk away.

Well, there you have it. My first true attempt at a good fic. It's not exactly as incredibly talented as I hoped, but it was good nonetheless. Compared to the others… Heh, it's a masterpiece.

This fic went through a lot before actually getting to its current (and hopefully permanent) state. Two years ago, when I first became a member of it started under the name 'Slade's New Apprentice'. And it was as original as the name would suggest.

It was a self-insertion Gary Stu-fest where Metatron (who back then was called Zion and whose physical appearance had a striking resemblance to mine) was ridiculously superpowerful to such extremes than he could have not only taken on Slade, but also the Titans, the Hive and the whole damn Justice League without breaking a sweat. Yeah, it was that bad. The plot wasn't that original either.

I abandoned the project after chapter two. Not because I thought it was crap, just 'cause I lost interest. I wasn't very committed to anything I did.

Then I took it up again. The plot was somewhat better, Metatron (or Zion at the time) no longer looked or acted like me. Yet he was still insanely powerful.

I got to chapter six, this time, I DID knew it was crap. Humor fics are my forte, and I was, probably still am, very rough when it came to fics that were actually serious. I pretty much noticed that after comparing my work with Legend Maker's.

So then, around May, I tried again. This time everything was different: The plot, the ending, the hints, even the name.

And this is what you got.

And I'm rather satisfied with the results. It could have been better, but it could have been worse too.

In any case… I dedicate my first actually decent non-humor work to Chrissie "Legend Maker" Brynn, Ben "Bobcat" Hanson and Andrew "Jedi-And" Irvin; because hey, without their work to inspire and 'tutor' me, I would have never got to the level it took to write this.

Thanks guys, I did all I could do to expand my writing talents and see if I could measure up to yours… And I failed. But I still tried, and I can't say it wasn't fun.

And to the rest of you, thanks for putting up with this incredibly dull ending note, thanks for reading, and good-night!

Sincerely,

John "Prisionero" Guzman.

P.S. Look for the sequel, if I make one.