This is the end, folks! Thank you all so much for reading! ^^
ACT 7
SCENE 1
ROBIN: How long have we been walking through these halls?
STARFIRE: I do not know, but the sun has gone down.
VICTOR: This room sure is cold.
GAR: Guys… does anyone else feel… weird?
STARFIRE: In what manner?
GAR: I don't know, like we're doing something we shouldn't be doing.
VICTOR: It's just this fortress. It's so big and empty… it feels wrong.
STARFIRE: Raven must have disposed of all the guards.
ROBIN: Yeah. I've never broken into a castle so unopposed.
VICTOR: You've broken into many castles?
STARFIRE: Halt! There is Deathstroke! Down there!
GAR: And there's Raven, too!
STARFIRE: I did not think Deathstroke could look scared. Yet there he is, on the ground, terrified.
ROBIN: Shh! Listen!
SLADE: It's you. You're the one who's been following me like a shadow.
RAVEN: Yes, it's me. I've been following you since you destroyed my town of Azarath. I've been watching everything you do, trying to find a reason to have mercy on you, and I have come up empty-handed.
SLADE: You'll regret threatening me, witch!
RAVEN: I have done everything I could to get to this moment. I've played my part. Followed every path that would lead me to you. I swore I would haunt you until I got bored of following the script. Well… I got bored.
GAR: Uh, guys, is her hair growing or am I seeing things?
VICTOR: Forget the hair, I think her eyes just multiplied!
STARFIRE: What are they saying?
ROBIN: Where is this wind coming from?
VICTOR: What? I can't hear a word over that wind!
ROBIN: What!?
SLADE: Wait! If you spare me, I can give you anything you desire! I have connections in all the kingdoms-
RAVEN: You're not listening. This is judgment. I am judgment. Your time is up.
VICTOR: Thank God the wind's… where's Slade?
GAR: He disappeared!
ROBIN: Let's go down there.
STARFIRE: She is floating two feet above the ground. You who know her best, is this how she sleeps?
ROBIN: I don't even know if she sleeps. I don't know anything about her. And everything I thought I knew about her was wrong.
GAR: Raven?
ALL gasp.
VICTOR: Everyone just saw pure starry darkness when her eyes opened there, right?
ROBIN/GAR/STARFIRE: Uh-huh.
VICTOR: Just checking.
ROBIN: You still think we were supposed to follow her, Gar?
GAR: What'd you mean?
ROBIN: Well, seems to me she decided to rush in front of us and take on Slade herself.
GAR: Maybe not, but… this seems familiar. …Yes! She said it, didn't she? When good and evil are matched, the battle will never end.
VICTOR: What's that?
GAR: It's what she said. Remember!? Evil can't be defeated, it has to be contained? It wasn't a riddle, she was just stating facts! She was just telling us what she'd do! Holy shit!
ROBIN: Wait, you are miles ahead of us. Whoa, I never thought I'd say that.
GAR: She's keeping Slade trapped somehow. I don't know… where, but that's what this is.
STARFIRE: But how do we go to her?
GAR: (Deflating) I don't… (Sees something on her cape) I know exactly what to do.
GAR takes a magic mirror from her cape.
VICTOR: Hey, it's no time to spruce up.
GAR: You guys just… make sure you follow me.
VICTOR: Follow you where?
GAR looks into the mirror and disappears.
ROBIN: Oh.
SCENE 2
Scene: A barren scape, a scene not of this world. RAVEN, in a meditation pose, floats above ground. At some distance, SLADE fights chains, to no avail. GAR pops into this world.
GAR: Raven!
RAVEN: (Opening her eyes) Gar?
ROBIN, STARFIRE and VICTOR pop into the world.
RAVEN: (Setting feet on the ground) You're not supposed to be here.
VICTOR: Yeah, but we are.
RAVEN: Why did you follow me?
GAR: You told us we get to pick our own fate now, right? Well, we freely decided to help you!
RAVEN: This is the opposite of what I meant. I set you free! And I specifically told you not to touch the mirror!
GAR: (Stubborn) I know! That's how I knew what to do!
ROBIN: Raven, you should have told us the truth. Why didn't you tell us? You knew who I was chasing all along!
RAVEN: Yes, and I couldn't let you meet him. If I let it go as it was meant to, you would have fought him, over and over again. He would get away from all your battles. You two would always be trapped in a never-ending struggle. I had to do it myself. (To All) You all need to leave. This is the only way.
VICTOR: What's the big plan here? You stay here trapping him for the rest of your life? We're not letting that happen.
STARFIRE: You cannot give up your freedom in this way, Raven.
SLADE manages to break off one of his chains. RAVEN concentrates, and a new chain traps him down. The wind picks up.
RAVEN: GO! It's not important that I'm free!
GAR: It is to us!
VICTOR: I'll throw him in prison, Raven! I'll make sure he stays there!
RAVEN: He won't stay there! If I let him go, the fight will never end. He'll escape all mortal prisons. Robin is his match—he can't defeat him.
ROBIN: But what about the rest of us?
RAVEN: What?
ROBIN: You know what happens if I fight him, but what if we all do? What if we all team up? He can't slip by all five of us!
RAVEN: I-I don't know. The story's changed so much. I've changed it too much.
GAR: It's worth a shot, Raven!
The wind becomes deafening, blows off RAVEN's hood, threatens to blow the others away.
RAVEN: What if it doesn't work? What if he escapes?
STARFIRE: Then we shall help you catch him!
RAVEN: Prison is more than he deserves.
ROBIN: This isn't what you deserve, either.
RAVEN: What difference does it make? I'm the witch!
GAR: You're not a witch, you told me that! (Manages to get close to her, and holds her arms, forcing her to look at him) We know who you are. You're Raven. You're our friend.
ROBIN: Come on, Raven! Let's be a team!
STARFIRE: Please come with us!
VICTOR: Trust us!
Pause. Then a flash of light.
SCENE 3
Scene: Back inside an ample hall in the Hive Fortress. All wake up as if from a dream. RAVEN and SLADE wake up slowly. ROBIN, GAR, VICTOR and STARFIRE wake up faster.
ROBIN: Hold him! Quick!
SLADE is buried in a pile of heroes. STARFIRE holds him up and VICTOR ties him up.
ROBIN: Slade. I'm the one you've been looking for. We finally meet.
SLADE: Robin. If you're the hero people say you are, stop cowering behind others. Face me yourself.
ROIBN: You'd like that, wouldn't you? But I've heard that doesn't end well, so I'll pass.
VICTOR: I can't believe I took help from a man who was terrorizing half my kingdom. Just for that, I'm never taking my eyes off you.
STARFIRE: Raven, are you all right?
RAVEN: I don't know what happens from now on.
ROBIN goes help her get up.
ROBIN: I do. We take him, we throw him in jail. And if he escapes, we deal with it. We drag him back as many times as we need to. Together. I'm sorry I didn't trust you before.
RAVEN: (Touched) You had no reason to.
GAR: Oof! Everyone gets along. Phew! Finally!
VICTOR: Should we get a horse and tie him to it, or…?
STARFIRE: Allow me. (Picks up SLADE)
STARFIRE exits. The others follow, a bit stunned.
SCENE 4
Scene: The Castle of Stone Court. VICTOR, GAR and RAVEN watch as ROBIN and STARFIRE talk, some way ahead.
ROBIN: You're trained in every single weapon? That's so impressive.
STARFIRE: (Blushing) Well, all weapons known to the Warlords of Okaara.
ROBIN: Tell me more.
VICTOR: (To GAR and RAVEN) Something tells me if I hadn't called off the engagement, she would have. For entirely different reasons.
GAR: (To RAVEN) Bet you didn't see that coming, did you?
RAVEN: There were many things I didn't see.
STARFIRE: Robin, before we march to Tamaran, I would like to restitute your weapon I destroyed. (Taking out a mighty sword) With a Tamaranian long-sword.
ROBIN: Whoa! Thanks! I- (As STARFIRE hands it over, he falls with the weight of it) I'll grow into it. Hey, Gar, look at this!
GAR goes.
VICTOR: (To RAVEN) So, is it back to the forest for you? 'Cause you could stay right here. I could put you in court as a magic senator or something. Make everyone else uncomfortable. What'd you say?
RAVEN: I could… stay?
VICTOR: Of course! Although, fair warning, Gar already asked to stay too.
RAVEN: (Looking at GAR, then looking away) …I'd like to stay.
STARFIRE: (Approaching RAVEN) Friend, you are red in the face.
RAVEN jumps and pulls her hood over her head.
GAR: (To ROBIN) Okay, here's the thing. I'm not saying just because we got Slade as a team that you'd be useless on your own… but why jinx it, y'know?
VICTOR: What's he saying?
ROBIN: He thinks after we take Tamaran, we should stay together and be a crime-fighting troupe. I'll be honest, I can kind of see it.
GAR: Really!? Dude, I thought that was a long shot.
VICTOR: I don't hate the idea of us being a team. And the land has many enemies.
ROBIN: (To STARFIRE) But you… have to go back to Tamaran, don't you?
STARFIRE: I am not going to rule after taking my land dishonorably by force. I will give it to a regent of my trust. I shall also be free to make my own path.
ROBIN: (Pleasantly surprised) Huh.
GAR: (To RAVEN, aside) What'd you think? Is teaming up in the cards?
RAVEN: (Smiling) Don't ask me. I don't see anything anymore.
GAR: Aren't you glad you didn't dedicate your life to containing evil?
RAVEN: I really thought that would be the end of everything. But it wasn't.
GAR: Wait, so the story isn't over yet?
RAVEN: No, it just about is. But only so something else can begin.
VICTOR: (To All) Ooh, we could make the Really Tall Tower our base.
ROBIN: (Laughing) The Really Tall Tower?
VICTOR: It's an astronomy room no one ever uses. Let me show you. From that tower, you can see it all!
They exit.