"Run!" Starfire yelled to her daughter frantically
She quickly followed her mother's command and made a quick bolt towards the elevator to one of the windows of the tower but she found she had been stopped dead in her tracks by Warp's arm wrapped around her neck holding her in place.
"Say goodbye to your daughter Nightwing!" Warp commanded with a grin
"You're a coward Warp!" Nightwing replied bitterly "You'd really sink so low as to hurt a child, Emil?"
"Not just any child" he paused a maleficent grin spreading on his face "Your child"
"No…" Nightwing pleaded
Before any of the others could reach Warp he had already opened a portal and pushed the small girl through before closing it behind her
"NO!" The couple screamed helplessly at the portal flickering away in front of them
"You lose, Titans" Warp said laughing bitterly at them
"How does Mad Mod keep getting that cane of his back every time we fight him?" Beast Boy asked confused "I'm sure Robin has snapped it like 3 times now and every single time he just magically gets a new one…what's up with that?" he asked with frustration as he and the other Titans made their way back onto the island and up towards the entrance to the tower.
"I don't know BB" Cyborg replied as they made their way into the elevator "Probably the same way every damn villain we fight gets their gear back….they probably just superglue it back together" he replied with a chuckle
"I doubt superglue could fix a magic cane" Raven replied simply
"Then how would you explain it Rae?" Beast Boy asked quizzically
"Yes, it is a most intriguing dilemma" Starfire added with a nod
"Well if it's magic in the first place then he probably just uses magic to make another one" she replied with a shrug
The doors to the elevator opened and they stepped out into the common room but all stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the small black haired girl looking at them from across the room.
Mar'i got up from her position where she had fell out of the portal to find that she was still in Titans Tower however there was no sign of Warp or of the other Titans. She walked nervously around checking in each of the rooms calling for her mother as she walked around. After a while of searching to no avail she sat herself down on the couch and decided that she would wait and that hopefully her parents would come and find her like they always did before.
She heard the sound of talking and the elevator dinging as it reached the common room and she span around quickly to look at the 5 teenagers stood frozen at the elevator doors. She looked over them and quickly spotted the mane of red hair and recognised her immediately. "Mommy!" she cried flying over the couch and tackling her.
Starfire froze in place as the child wrapped her arms around her and the other Titans looked at her mortified.
"Mommy?" Robin asked incredulously
"Greetings?..." Starfire asked the girl dumbfounded
Mar'i floated backwards a little bit and scanned Starfire "Mommy, why do you look so young?" she asked completely confused "and where is Daddy?"
Robin stared at the littler girl that had been embracing Starfire. From afar other than the ability of flight, the girl looked completely human but when he looked at her face he noticed something that clearly wasn't. Her emerald green glowing eyes were almost identical to that of Starfire's. There was no doubt in his mind that there was somehow a relation between the two but the idea that Starfire was her mother shocked him to his core. The girl looked around 7 or 8 years of age and Starfire was only 17 and the thought that Starfire was pregnant at 9 years old made him shudder.
"Starfire….this is your daughter?" Robin asked still completely frozen in place
"I do not remember ever giving birth to a child…?" she chuckled nervously
"Ohhhh…" Mar'i nodded in comprehension "In this world I have not been born yet. My name is Mar'i" she greeted with a smile
"So Mar'i you're from the future?" Beast Boy asked still majorly confused
"I suppose so" she replied with a shrug
"You said 'this world'. What do you mean by that?" Raven asked with her eyebrow raised
Mar'i stroked her chin with her fingers for a second before responding "A bad man named Warp pushed me through a portal that he opened and I ended up here" she elaborated sadly
"Wait, isn't warp just a time traveller though" Cyborg said pausing and scratching his head "So the Warp from your world can open portals to other universes then?"
"Seems so" Raven replied simply
"Would you be able to take me home?" she asked nervously
"We will make sure of it" Starfire answered with a wobbly smile, still traumatised that this little girl was her child
Raven had begun work immediately attempting to detect which universe Mar'i had originated from and then began working on finding her inter-dimensional spells that she had used before to send Kilowatt home to the parallel universe he was from.
Cyborg and Beast Boy knew that the little girl must be worried and sad about being away from her parents and so decided to entertain her by watching TV with her on the couch to get her mind off the scenario. Starfire sat at the table with her head propped in her hands obviously still having a hard time processing this. Robin sat across from her having his own mental battles.
The more Robin looked at the girl, the more clearly he saw how closely she resembled Starfire and it was obvious to him now that she obviously was her daughter, she had inherited the same emerald pools that were Starfire's eyes and presumably she had inherited her powers. One thing stuck out to him like a sore thumb though and that was her pitch black hair. Starfire had very vivid red hair and so the father would had to have black hair for it to make the red hair a recessive gene. He secretly hoped that it was his black hair which Mar'i had inherited it from but his hopes were crushed by one simple fact. Mar'i hadn't recognised him at all and she had even asked about the location of her father. He knew that Mar'i had originated from another dimension but he knew that the 2 dimensions probably had the same future. This realisation of the future made him sadder than he would have initially thought. Trying to think who else he knew of that matched the hair colour was killing him but he was desperate to know beforehand who he thought might be Mar'i's father.
After a few hours Raven interrupted the long silence "I've managed to lock onto the dimension Mar'i was from so we should be able to send her back soon"
"Aren't there like millions of alternate universes Rae? How did you manage to find one of the millions there is out there?" Beast Boy asked thoughtfully
"It's hard to explain but my magic can pick up on residual energy on a person when they travel between dimensions and so I used that to find the dimension where Mar'i came from" She elaborated
"So you can send me back home?" Mar'i asked hopefully, receiving a confirming nod in response "Thank you aunt Raven!" she cried ecstatically floating up and hugging the dark girl
"Umm…you're uh welcome….i guess?" She replied patting the small girl on the back awkwardly
"Aunt Raven?" Cyborg said barely containing his laughter "That's certainly a new one"
Raven shot daggers back at Cyborg before awkwardly lifting the small girl off her and allowing her to float over to Starfire.
"Are you okay Mommy?" She asked nervously "I didn't mean to upset you"
Starfire gave her a comforting smile "No you haven't upset me Mar'i, it is just a very strange event to meet someone who isn't yet born" she replied with a sigh
"Okay Mar'i, I should be able to send you home now" Raven said walking over to her
"Okay. Goodbye everyone" she said with a smile waving before stepping towards where Raven had opened a portal for her.
"Mar'i wait!" he called running up to her. His curiosity had got the better of him and he had to know an important detail before she left "You only ever told us your first name. Do you have a last name?"
"Yes. Of course I have a last name" she answered slightly confused "It is Grayson" she paused "from my daddy" she added with a bright smile before running eagerly through the portal which led back to her tower only a short while after she had exited.
All 5 titans stood slack-jawed as the portal closed behind the small girl
"Grayson?" Cyborg asked with a wide grin on his face "guess we know who the father is" he said gesturing at Robin whilst lightly chuckling
"You two. Out" Raven commanded grabbing Cyborg and Beast Boy and leading them swiftly out of the common room
Starfire and Robin had been stood there frozen for some time now and she was beginning to become nervous. The shock of the Mar'i incident had mostly been replaced by joy at now seeing that her feelings towards Robin were proven to be reciprocated, at least in a parallel world that is.
She was beginning nervous at how shocked Robin looked and his silence only heightened her stress "Robin?" she asked timidly "are you okay?"
Robin's head snapped around as if being woken from a trance, he looked at her worried face and gave her a smile "Yeah, I'm fine Star it's just…" he paused looking at her with a nervous smile "she said her last name was Grayson"
"Yes it does appear that she is in fact our daughter in that world" she replied nervously
Robin was finally going to tell her how he felt after all this time of knowing her, and he was terrified that she may not feel the same. He knew that in Mar'i's world he and Starfire were together but that didn't necessarily apply to this world and that thought mortified him. Robin snapped himself out of his excessive worry, he had just met his daughter from another parallel world and so today, anything seemed possible.
"That could be the case here too Star" he said nervously "I mean, if you want it to be that is?" he asked hopefully
Starfire's face returned to that of shock and Robin realised that he had gone too far. Couldn't he have just told her his feelings without telling her about how they were going to have children together like some obsessed stalker?
"It could?" she replied cautiously
His worry had seemed to become a reality as he looked at the confused look on Starfire's face. Of course she wouldn't want that with him. The Robin of Mar'i's world is probably very different to what he is and must have some unnatural amount of luck to be with Starfire. "Forget I said it Star" he replied sadly "I was being an idiot and I wasn't thinking what I was saying. It's just I-I…." he paused and eyed the exit to which he could escape this embarrassment and sadness that was hitting him like a brick "I gotta go Star" he said quickly trying to run but he found that Starfire was holding him back by his arm.
"Please continue what you were saying Robin" she requested with a comforting smile
He needed to tell her now otherwise he may never get the chance again, and that hopeful look in her eyes was renewing his confidence. "Meeting Mar'i was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me Star but it's given me enough confidence to tell you this. When Mar'i told me her name it gave me this renewed hope that had always been present, hope that me and you would be together one day. I always took it for granted that it would happen eventually but Mar'i not recognising me made me realise that I don't necessarily have as much time you as I'd hope. I've never had the courage to tell you this before but….I love you Starfire"
Starfire was bawled over by how freely Robin had poured his heart out to her, she had always hoped that he reciprocated her feelings but always expected him to be much more subtle with his heart than he was being currently. She simply stood, still processing his words over when she noticed that his face began to fall and that a few tears had spilled beneath his mask.
"I guess that's my answer then" he chuckled sadly "I'll be going Star, sorry for bothering you" he said miserably, turning towards the door
Her heart was screaming at her for letting him think that she did not feel the same. She flew at him hard enough to knock him to floor and pressed her lips desperately to his hoping that he would understand. After a few moments she moved her head back and looked at him sadly "Robin I am so very sorry for letting you think you were alone with those feelings, I was merely surprised by your words" she pleaded hoping he would forgive her
"You feel the same?" he asked hopefully
"Yes, I very much share the feeling of love for you Robin" she replied before kissing him again deeply before continuing "and yes I would very much like to have a Mar'i of our own one day" she stated brightly
Nightwing and Starfire were knelt on the floor devastated by the loss of their daughter. They would have given anything to have her back. Raven was trying desperately to locate her but she wasn't gaining much headway in the search. Starfire had barely spoke and instead just sobbed and clutched to her husband dearly as if letting go would mean she would lose him too.
No one had even attempted to stop Starfire's merciless beating of Warp. She had gone into a blind rage and the punches didn't stop until Warp had gone unconscious and Starfire just fell to her knees in sorrow whilst her husband attempted to comfort her despite the immense pain he was also feeling.
The portal powered into existence and the small girl flew through eagerly and rushed towards her parents "Mommy! Daddy! I was sent to another tower and everyone was there but you were all much younger and mommy didn't know who I was and aunt Raven made me a portal to come back" she said excitedly as if it was some magical journey
Starfire rushed over to her daughter and hugged her tightly "You are unharmed, yes?"
Nightwing smiled brightly at his daughter, "you said aunt Raven brought you home?"
"Yeah but she was much younger and her and uncle Garfield weren't even together yet" she replied with a giggle to which Changeling and Raven shared amused glances at each other
"Did you see me?" Nightwing asked his daughter with a smile
"No. I couldn't find you and mommy didn't knew who I meant. I did meet a boy named Robin who dressed a lot like what uncle Tim used to wear" she replied thoughtfully
Her father chuckled warmly "Honey, that was me. I used to be called Robin before I became Nightwing"
"Ohhhh" Mar'i replied "Then maybe I should not have told him my last name was Grayson then?" she replied guiltily
"Yes, that must have been the awkward" Starfire replied with a giggle
The End
Author's Notes:
This story was requested by "MSBlackmon"
If you would like to request a story idea then feel free to private message me with your idea and I will gladly give you credit for helping with the idea.
This story was a little awkward but I am happy with it overall so I hope you guys enjoyed it!
In case you didn't know Mar'i Grayson appears in the 'Kingdom Come' DC comics where she eventually grows up to become NightStar. She has not been used in anything else other than this comic series. However I did not write Mar'i's universe as being the 'Kingdom Come' one as in that world Starfire dies leaving Nightwing to raise their daughter, so you know fuck that bullshit xDD
Also in case you didn't guess "Changeling" is what Beast Boy is referred to when he is older in the comics and it makes more sense that he would use another name like Nightwing when he is older.
Next Story: More one-shots whilst I am still coming up with ideas for "Moving Forward", any ideas for it would be greatly appreciated as I really want to continue it soon.
Also I am aiming to start writing more drama/angst stuff. My work so far has mostly been fluff and so I think I need to have some angst to mix it up. However do not panic! Fluff will be included in amongst the angst and drama.