Song: The Sharpest Lives  By: My Chemical Romance

(A.N: I thought it went well with an action scene :P Damn, I'm putting such an emo influence on this story, hope I don't ruin you lot :3)

Katana cutting a sharp line through the air, Damian darted past Drake, twisting to avoid a fist. Raven had sought out Stephanie to fight, hence, Tim had been left to Damian. The Red Robin kicked out, holding a hand to his arm- which sported a new, sleek cut bleeding a line of red. Damian deftly avoided the attack, shifting to the side and aiming a roundhouse-kick to Tim's face.

Drake caught Damian's leg, pulling him forwards and falling right in to his trap. On the floor, Damian abruptly yanked down the leg Tim was holding, slamming the other one in to his face. Blood flowing freely from his nose, the RedRobin aimed a low-section kick at the floored boy, only to find air where the boy once was.  

Stance defensive, Tim had barely a millisecond to register the side kick coming at him from the left before Damian's foot glanced past his face- having leant backwards in the last moment. Tim sent a punch straight to Damian's head, not holding back seeing as the other hadn't. The current Robin ducked, swiping sharply at Drake's legs.

Having trained in combat with Batman for years, Tim knew to jump, avoiding getting floored. Damian was restraining himself- Tim could tell- which was an understandably terrifying prospect. If this was Damian holding back, what could he do when he wasn't? Robin's skills had clearly improved with time, and Tim didn't know if he could stand against them. 

The answer came when Drake lunged at Damian, who was still crouched on the floor. Damian kicked upwards, hitting his opponent once more in the nose. But Damian wasn't finished yet.  Flipping off of the ground, the assassin wrapped both legs around Tim's neck, dragging him on to the floor. He jumped forwards, standing above his opponent.

In his true, wicked manner, Damian took out his katana, which he had managed to sheath during the fight.  Holding it to Drake's neck, he smirked, condescendence oozing out of his skin.

"Sloppy, Drake.", he flashed his teeth, "Quite sloppy."

***

Stephanie threw a well aimed punch at Raven's head, testing her new opponent. The half-demon dodged the punch, surprising the older girl by ducking under her arm. With a speed possessed only by the preternatural, Raven sent a palm-strike to the Batgirl's ribcage, channelling energy through her body to increase the power in her hit -much like Tai Chi, just...with a little more magic.

Blonde locks whipping her face, Stephanie flew backwards, twisting in the last second to avoid falling on to her face. She had a fleeting moment to collect herself and fall in to a fighting stance before she was met by a whirlpool of punches, targeted an executed accurately despite their speed. The Batgirl defended against the onslaught wholeheartedly, understanding that this opponent would not go easy on her. 

Having delivered her flurry of strikes -which was only a test to see how well Stephanie's defences were- Raven shifted back, stance low with one leg straight in front of her, the other almost fully crouched. A strategic move on her part, it was, as it presented a difficulty if you wished to attack another who was at a different height.

She didn't have to wait for the other combatant to attack. Stephanie, ran nimbly at Raven, her body movement too much of a tell-tale for Raven not to anticipate her next move. When Stephanie flipped over the half-demon, expecting to surprise her, all Raven needed to do was jump to avoid the low side-kick that came seemingly without warning. 

This presented Raven with the perfect chance to add a jumping turning-kick , channelling energy once more in to her hit. Of course Stephanie was by no means untrained, hence, she was able to shift ever so slightly to avoid getting winded like before. Still, Raven landed the kick and mother trucker dude, that hurt like a but-cheek on a stick. Sacred Waffle-Lord now is not the time to reference vine Steph!  She mentally chided, dodging another blow.

The pair continued the exchange, slowly wearing one another down. Until finally Raven had enough. She had hardly used magic this time, opting to work towards getting in the habit of hand-to-hand once again. However, her strength was depleting- and Damian had ended his fight with Tim, so she ought to end this one.

Summoning her magic to lift her off of the ground, Raven gathered a small ball of energy in her hand. Encased in a purple glow, the demoness threw the beam of energy at the Batgirl, hitting her in the chest. The shadow of a bird hung behind her for a moment before she swooped down to her floored opponent. That primal being within her screeched to savage and consume, clawing against her mental wards. A pathetic attempt. As was Trigon's.

Hurry girl. Kill her now. End it. You know a million ways how.

Raven snorted, humoured at the attempts to coax her in to giving in to the monster within. Trigon- not Father, but Trigon- had lost strength throughout his time in the gem, and was practically harmless. All he did was talk every now an again. Always the same damn thing. It grew amusing.

Still, he did remind Raven of what she could do if her control were to slip for even a few seconds.

If she had put all her effort and power in to that beam...well... that is why she didn't. Hence, Stephanie was only very, very winded. Raven stood over her, eyes conveying an ocean of emotion, yet all that was visible through the harsh waves was victory and concern.

Ever the unaffected, composed person, Raven held out a hand to pull Stephanie up, still retaining her prior grace. The Batgirl accepted the hand gratefully, dragging herself dramatically off of the simulation room floor.

"Daaaaaaym girl, that was fierce!", she complemented, wheezing slightly, still leaning on the taller girl's shoulder.

Raven furrowed her brows, "Are you okay?", she allowed her senses to enhance for a moment, taking in the damage inflicted upon the older girl.

"Yeah, I'm good- don't worry about it!", Raven was pleased to find that she hadn't hurt her too bad, just bruises here and there, "Hey where d'ya learn to fight like that?"

Mirth lacing her tone, Raven shrugged noncommittally, "Hell."

Stephanie's laughs were accompanied by the chatter of the rest, broken up by Jaime's announcement.

"Team Damirae win again! A different technique this time, but still, it worked!", he smiled at them, noting EVERYTHING about the way their hands and eyes made comfortable contact as they high-fived, it seemed to be their victory 'thing', whereas Donna's would be to dance ecstatically.

Raven stood next to Damian, discussing self-defence techniques with the rest of them.

"You went about it different this time.", Jon pointed out, blowing hair out of his light blue eyes.

Wow...DAMN IT DONNA NOT AGAIN! FOCUS!

"Well,", Damian smirked, "As they say, 'Divide,"

"And conquer.", Raven finished.

***

The titans all left the training room, with two of them cradling a glorified bag of jelly beans. Coconut flavour jelly beans. 

The victors shared smug smirks, jade and violet eyes meeting warmly. It wasn't awkward, when they made eye contact, just...nice. There was so much unsaid, yet it didn't need to be. The understanding between them was enough. Raven could stare in to those rivers of green and know that she wouldn't face judgement for her background, for her choices, for who she was. The judged weren't in the habit of judging.

Tearing her eyes away, though a small part of her didn't want to, Raven recounted the prior events, a soft smile playing on her lips. They had versed Adyn and Jaime- resulting in a close victory. Perhaps if the Bluebeetle and Raven's half-brother had been better used to each other's techniques Raven and Damian wouldn't have won.  

That didn't matter now, however. All she had to do was wat to enjoy the jelly beans. Mmmmm...coconut...

"We will split them halfway, no?", Damian interrupted her thought process, nudging her.

She nodded, "I'll measure them out.", she smirked, "Let's not take any chances."

Damian held a hand to his chest, mock affronted- the other hand still held the bag of jelly beans religiously.

"Are you suggesting that I can't be trusted?", he said, flouncing his acting skills.

Raven snickered at Damian, teasing, "Of course I can trust you...just not with jelly beans."

They continued their verbal taunts, much to the amusement of Jaime behind them. He was also overjoyed to find Donna and Jon also talking- it was just too damn cute! Though it did bring a pang of longing to Jaime's chest: he hadn't seen his boyfriend since last Tuesday; at least it was better than when he used to only see him about twice a month.

All of them made their way to the living room- the cosy centre where most of the manor's occupants socialised- obviously it wasn't where Damian and Raven, the reclusive pair, spent most of their time. As they sauntered in to the room, the large group was caught off-guard by Kori and Dick sitting on the sofa.

It wasn't their presence that started, but the manner of their talk- it was frantic, stressed, as though they were debating an important matter and were trying to reach a conclusion. The couple looked up as the Titans (plus Adyn, the metaphorical sixth-wheel) entered, staring in perplexity before meeting eyes. 

Koriand'r and Dick stood up in the awkward silence, staring at one another in solidarity.

"We...ah-", Nightwing began, unsure of how to start.

"We would like to make a formal announcement at dinner.", Kori said with finality, clasping her hands together,  "Please be sure to attend.", the sharp look she shot Raven and Damian was well heeded.

Donna moved her hands in a rotating motion, gesturing for them to continue. 

But they didn't, Kori just bit her lip, smiling nervously as Dick wiped sweaty palms on his trousers. And with that, the couple left the room, leaving behind severely confused titans and an even more clueless Adyn.

Well that was weird... 

A.N

Hello my darlings! I'm sorry this chapter came out late but the internet on my computer is a complete bitch and it hasn't been working properly for a while now. Sorry for the inconvenience but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, thanks for your love and support- it means soooo much! Have a wonderful day!

P.S Sorry if my music kind of broke your ears- I just really, really like punk rock!

Thanks

-Bats:3