A/N: Teen Titans fic with the main plotline of Wicked (the musical). Can I get any dorkier? The magic eight ball says that looks doubtful, but I should ask another day. ;)
I'd like to thank my little brother for getting me back into Teen Titans, and my wonderfully amazing beta, Trip (The Darklight Angel).
I do not own Teen Titans or Wicked. Like I'd be writing a fanfiction about them if I did? Hmm. Nope! They belong to their respective owners.
Jump City. The usually bustling metropolis was empty; the pressing silence was so overwhelming no birds dared chirp a note. Even the wind's whispers had ceased. Where had the hundreds of residents gone?
The answer was simple: the park. Almost every single Jump City resident was gathered there, from the youngest newborns to the stooped and wrinkled elders.
"She's dead, she's dead!" The crowd cried out in pure, unadulterated joy. The outdoor arena was filled to the point of bursting, each crowd member cheering themselves hoarse – together the created a giant mass of celebration.
"Yes!" A tall, slim, green-eyed and pink-haired woman cheered. She was hovering above a small stage, positively levitating with excitement. "She is dead! Good was victorious!" The celebration increased tenfold at her words.
"Starfire! How dead is she?" The single voice could surprisingly be heard clearly over the blaring noise.
"As dead as phlixing in the tzebrial cavity of a Zornian muck-beetle!" One eyebrow on each of the crowd member's faces arched in confusion. If this was a cartoon, question marks would be sprouting from the citizens' heads.
"Very dead!" Starfire explained with a shake of her head. "She is as dead as one can be." A brief look of sorrow and mourning flickered over the tan face.
"Yes, she is dead!" Starfire apparently got over whatever had troubled her, though her eyes remained sad. Luckily, none of the crowd members noticed. "Let us be grateful, Jump City! Let us commence with the feasting and parties! Let us celebrate this glorious day fully! Is it not joyous to know that good conquered the evil?" The crowd, which had hushed during Starfire's speech, burst out into raucous cheering again.
"You all realize," the woman continued in a softer voice, "that her life was lonely… she died alone." Her aura visibly drooped. The crowd ignored her, so she yelled louder: "She died alone. This proves when you are… bad, you are always to be on your own." The masses applauded, cheering and catcalling like crazy.
Now that she had the assembly's attention, the pink-haired woman asked the question- the same one that was on several audience members' minds:
"Are people born wicked?" Starfire's tennis-ball green eyes widened. "Or do the events in their lives influence them? After all, she had a family. They could have changed her."
"I'm leaving!" The nondescript man called out, impatiently waiting for his wife to come and say goodbye to him. "Right now!"
"Coming!" His wife glided from their bedroom, hooded sweatshirt pulled up over her face. As she neared him, her husband pulled her close and placed a kiss on her pale cheek.
"I'll be back in a few nights, Arella." He promised with a kiss on the other cheek. "Be good. Remember that I love you forever." He kissed her nose, then turned on his heel and left without a backward glance. Arella shut the door with a definite snap.
"Whatever." She sneered, wiping off her cheek, clearly disgusted. With the same cool air she had exited her room from she retreated back to it.
"It's safe," she hissed into the darkness. Her closet door creaked open and out stepped an unusually tall, broad, and demonic man. Before kissing her squarely on the lips, he breathed over her, trapping her in his spell. They dove for the bed, the previously apathetic woman alight with passion and secret love.
"And," Starfire continued, "From the moment she was birthed, she was… well… odd."
"Push!" The midwife instructed to a panting, sweaty, and very pregnant Arella. Her husband was there, holding her hand, stroking it encouragingly. With one final strain, the great pressure inside Arella lessened. There was no wail from the bloody lump between her legs, and all coherent parties present thought it was stillborn—under the pinkish coating, the baby was decidedly gray with thin purple lips. The midwife, with a look of familiar sadness, picked up the infant; and almost dropped her as large amethyst eyes studied her face intently. She knows, the midwife's jaw dropped. Not even an hour old, and this little 'un knows things.
"She's alive," the midwife breathed a sigh of relief and bundled the little girl up in a blanket. "She's a lovely baby—"
"It's hideous!" Her father yelped, jumping away from his staring 'daughter'. Hearing his voice, the infant squinted, and then she glowed black, engulfed completely in shadows. Her two large eyes flashed bright white before morphing into four dangerously red ones.
As suddenly as this strange, frightening event had occurred, it stopped, leaving a scowling little purple-haired but otherwise perfectly normal baby swaddled in a blanket. Arella struggled to sit and see what had caused such an outburst from her husband, but before she could see her husband had stormed out of the room. "Go after him…" she whispered, reaching out for her baby. The midwife nodded and handed the swaddled half-demon to her mother. Arella, oblivious, cuddled her newborn, ignoring the incredibly grown-up glare she received.
"You observe, her life could not have been easy." The green-eyed woman shook her head sadly. "But she is truly gone; the past is the past… and we are here to celebrate!" The crowd whooped.
All celebration was suddenly cut off when one small voice shouted up at the figure on the stage.
"Starfire, is it true you were her friend?" A collective gasp washed over the group.
Starfire, a demon's friend?! It was preposterous!
"It—" Starfire stuttered. "It truly depends on by what you mean as a 'friend.' On my planet, we do not have 'friends,' but by your standards… uh… I did know her; that is, our paths were fatefully crossed… at the H.I.V.E…" The woman, lost in her memories, floated dejectedly off towards her castle. The partying citizens hardly noticed her absence; they were too consumed in celebrating the half-demon's death.
That is, except, for two lone figures at the back of the crowd. They followed the pink-haired woman's trail silently, their intents unknown—would Starfire survive to see another day?