Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics. But I own this story! (MWAH HA HA HA) awkward
But I own Herbert.
Special Thanks to: Carley for helping decide what to work with within the story plot!!
I went from 1st person to 3rd after the third paragraph.
I'm also adding Beast Boy's and Raven's kids, even though I don't know if they have any specific names.
This story kinda follows the idea of What A Girl Wants, but I changed some scenes. So please don't pound me!!
These are:
'Thoughts'
EmphasisStoplight Colored
Chapter 1: My DecisionMy name is Mari Anders, I'm 18 years old, and I live on 141 China Street. It's always just been me and Kori (she never liked me calling her that, she wanted something more traditional like MOM.) Well, we've always lived right next to the Wangs; they're like family to us. We celebrated everything together, birthdays, Christmases, New Years, National Eggnog Day (yeah I know weird right?), heck you name it. My entire, little life has been going on without a DAD. Mom told me the story between the two; it happened waaaaay before I was born.
"Hey, Kori…err…um…Mom, can you tell me the story about you and Dad again?" Mari called from the couch in the living room. The look on Kori's face clearly showed that she wasn't too happy with her daughter calling her by her first name, but came over anyways and patted her daughter on the head as she took a seat beside her.
"Okay, let's see… a while back ago before you were born…"
There was a team called the Teen Titans. They were 5 of the greatest heroes to ever live in Jump City, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire. Robin and Starfire were a sweet couple even though no one knew about their relationship together. The two were extremely close and he decided to take her to meet his family on there R&R (rest and relaxation) came for them to take off, she left even though it pained her to go and leave her Robin behind. Later on, about 9 months later, the young girl was blessed with a little girl of her own. And her name was Mari Anders.
"Hey, Mari?"
"Yeah, Kori?" Mari perked up a bit at her mom's voice, even though Kori winced a bit at the sound of her name.
"Follow me." And with that Kori was out the door heading for her room a couple doors down. As Mari entered the exaggerated purple room, she saw her mom sticking out from underneath her bed. Her face began to furrow in confusion when Kori came out with a brown cardboard box. Surprisingly it wasn't purple, like everything else in the room and practically half of the house. If it wasn't for her the entire house would be drenched and drowned in the color. Her mom sat on the bed with the box on her lap, and patted the spot beside her, signifying for her to take a seat. Kori slowly opened the box revealing a Teddy Bear dressed in a cute little, stoplight colored suit and mask, along with some pictures of the Teen Titans team.
"Here," Kori said as she took out the cutely dressed Teddy Bear, and handed it to her. "It's just something he gave to me when we were together, I want you to have it."
"Ko-ri" Mari's voice cracked a bit as she held the Bear close to her. She threw herself at her mom and gave her literally a bone-crushing hug. Being part alien with super strength isn't easy to live with since you could easily hurt or destroy anything if you wanted to. "Thanks, it means a lot to me that you would trust me with something that means so much to you. Well, I got to go. I have to be at Riko's (it's a made up store that she works at), there's a major sale going on and the boss is going to drown in there without me." With a final hug to her mom she took her Bear into her room and set down the special gift gently on her bed, and took off immediately to help her helpless boss with some little girls.
-At Riko's-"Mari!! You're finally here! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" her boss looked as if he was going to run up to her, push through all of the little girls, and shower her feet with kisses. She always wondered why he started a little girl store if he couldn't handle it. Mari pushed through all of the little girls and parents trying to pay for what their daughters begged, pleaded, and had a fit over for. She sighed as she opened the register; Kori's story was hitting a nerve. Sure she heard it like a gazillion times, but for some weird reason it made a bigger impression than the other bazillion times she heard it. Of course she'd seen pictures of her supposed Dad before, but that was almost 20 years ago, back when they were around her age. Back then her parents were supposedly love-struck teens. Great… Shaking her head a bit to get the image out of her head, and began to ring up the many nonsensical items that the little girls had chosen.
- Around the end of the Sale-
Mari watched the last customer she rung up leave the store. She let out an aggravated sigh. Whenever her boss had these sales, she was always worn out from the constant screaming and rushing of all of the parents. All of sudden Mari felt like she was going to fly across the room as she felt a sharp slap hit her back. The green-eyed girl turned around to find her boss who was trying to give her a pat on the back, but it was more like a torpedo just rammed into her. "Thanks, for helping out Mari," her boss gratefully said, "I'll see you next week." And the stout little man turned on his heel and was out the door in an instant. 'Of course I helped out, if I didn't I wouldn't get paid.' Mari couldn't help but think it.
A piercing thank you was thrown out randomly from a young girl to her father who Mari seemed to miss. She couldn't help but stare at the two as the little girl hugged her father. And right on cue, that pang came back. The pang that came from the story of her dad. The dad who doesn't even know that she exists! Dragging her feet along, the ebony haired girl trudged the long way back home.
-Walk Home-
The fact that she didn't have a dad to grow up with was really hitting her hard. 'Like it's bad enough when they don't even know you exist.' And now she had to think about college, she knew Kori was going to support her, but that's only one person. There was a feeling of a big, empty gap inside of her, that gap being the place where her supposed dad would be. 'That's it; Kori's put this off for too long. She may be trying to protect me, but I think it's time to meet my dad.'
-At Home- (Dun Dun Dun dramatic pause)
"Hey Kori?" Mari yelled throughout the one level apartment as she slammed the door shut trying to get her attention, causing an aftershock on the entire building. And in an instant Kori came out in a run screaming, "EARTHQUAKE!!" as she began to scope out the area.
"Um, I just wanted to… um, talk…" a surprised Mari dryly stated as she headed into the oh, so surprising lavender living room. "I really need to tell you something," she said emphasizing her last statement. A look of concern crossed her mother's face as she stared intently into her daughter's own. The emerald-eyed beauty turned the corner; slowly Mari followed into the (LAVENDER) living room, and plunged into a humongous deep purple beanbag chair (YES!!). Kori followed doing the same. For a moment there was an awkward silence overcoming them.
Mari lifted her head and released what was wrenching her heart from within her. "I'm going to see my father." And with that statement Kori looked like she was about to protest. The look she gave her showed that she would jump up from the gigantic, deep, squishy, PURPLE beanbag chair and throw banners screaming out protest to the idea. Her mom's face though began to show understanding, and she finally let out a sigh of obvious defeat. There was nothing she could probably attempt to keep her away from Richard.
"Okay," was all that Kori said. Mari's eyes lit up at her mom's response. Her mom began to get up from the very PURPLE beanbag chair to hug her daughter, but gave up when she constantly fell back into it from trying to get up. Instead, Mari leaned down to give her a big, bear hug, avoiding getting sucked into the trap of the PURPLE beanbag. Being so thrilled about the fact that she was going to finally meet her dad, she flew up happily into the air and straight to her room to pack for her journey.
Mari began to throw clothes from her drawers, closet, and floor into a midnight blue, medium sized sack. (By sack I mean the type of bag that you pull strings from on the top to close it) After stuffing in practically her entire room into the sack, she scanned her now bare floor for her birth certificate and the pictures of the former Titans to add to her collection of already densely packed clothes. It really shocked her that she had hard wood floors underneath all of her junk. Mari took one last look around her room to see if she missed anything, when her eyes fell upon the cute, little Teddy Bear dressed like Robin with his little version of a mask and stoplight colored suit. Picking him up, the ebony haired girl placed a light kiss on the top of its head and gently placed it in her sack. Quickly swinging her sack onto her back, she said her goodbyes and left the apartment.
With great skill, Mari whistled loud enough to make a couple taxis stop for her. Randomly picking the closest one, she hopped into the backseat of the cab. "I'm going to 918 Starlight Lane in Jump City," she nodded to the driver as she settled into the seat for the long awaited drive. "Are you sure miss? It's a long drive all the way from Steel City," he asked as he turned around to look at her. Mari dug around into the front pocket of her midnight blue sack and pulled out a wad of cash that she saved up from her job at Riko's. The driver didn't really need a reason after he saw that mullah come out; he simply just punched the gas and drove off leaving a big cloud of smoke trailing behind it.
-Jump City-
Mari woke up in haze and realized where she was. She picked up her head and looked out the window to see them pulling up to a large mansion. Pulling out a large amount of money, she jumped out of the cab before it came to a complete stop, and shoved the cash into the open window of the taxi as she slammed the door shut, almost successfully tearing off the whole back of the taxi. Turning around, she felt pretty insignificant compared to the enormous mansion. Mari walked right up to the gate, where a guard in a black suit stood.
"May I help you?" the guard asked, obviously inquiring why she was there. Mari glanced at the mansion through the bars, and then looked back at the guard.
"Actually, no Herbert," she replied as she glanced at the tiny, gold nameplate and began to walk away. Out of Herbert's sight she threw her bag over the wall with much accuracy, and started lifting up into the air. Flying over the wall wasn't that hard, but she lost control and landed on her bum. She wasn't too talented with her so-called 'gift' that she inherited. "Hey! Who are you?" a voice shouted out from a good distance. Mari slowly turned around and got up to see a young girl about her age, but probably a little younger. The girl's violet hair began to blow in the wind, "Hey! Answer me!" Out of no possible control, Mari lost it and accidentally threw a starbolt at the strange, mysterious girl. The violet haired girl waved her hand across her face, and a black aura appeared blocking the starbolt. "So that's how you want to play, huh?" the girl responded as she ripped out one of the four pillars holding up the mansion. The pillar was thrown at Mari with great force. She let out a grunt as it hit her and smashed her against the brick wall keeping people out. With ease, Mari pushed the great, long pillar away from her and tossed it. She stared at her cautiously, waiting for her to attack. But just her luck, the girl had taken the chance to trap her in an aurora of black energy, taking her captive.
-Mansion's Dining Room-
The day had gone by quite normally, as usual. Alfred was setting a different variety of food all around the long, black cherry wood table. Raven eyed the food with a hungry expression and looked up to see Garfield (Beast Boy) stuffing his face full of tofu. 'Just like back in Titans Tower' Raven couldn't help but think when she saw the sight of him with tofu eggs hanging out of his mouth.
After the Titans disbanded, Raven and Beastboy got closer together and eventually tied the knot. Over time they had two children, Rose and Trent. Trent being 19, got the hair of his father and his mother's eyes. While Rose who's 17, had the complete opposite qualities of her brother. Each one luckily avoided the green skin fiasco that their father had to suffer through. All of them had been invited to the wedding of Richard Grayson (Robin) and Barbara Gordon. Raven wasn't that thrilled that she had to wear a dress, but why not? She wore one on her day, why not on his? Losing interest in her breakfast, Raven looked out the window and saw one of the pillars being ripped out of ground surrounded in a black aura. Raven immediately ran outside, she was pretty sure she wasn't doing it. The large pillar was being thrown at a girl who was now slammed against the wall. "Rose!" she cried out after seeing what her daughter was doing, but it was clear she didn't hear or see her come out. Surprisingly the girl was able to push the pillar off and threw it randomly away. Raven took the chance and chanted her famous mantra encasing her daughter and the girl, who Rose almost could've killed, in a black aura.
Mari began to throw her light green starbolts against the black aura, giving up she looked at the girl attacking her and noticed she was having the same problem. A woman came out with her hands surrounded in black energy, her long violet hair blowing in the hard blowing wind. "Richard! Gar! We have a visitor!" she called out as she dragged the two behind her through the door she recently just came out of. Mari recognized her as an older version of her mom's best friend Raven based off of Kori's descriptions. 'Great… I'm being busted by Kori's best friend.' All eyes followed her as Raven dropped the two onto some chairs. It was pretty obvious that they expected this from Rose, but they had no possible clue who she was. Her gaze drifted across the room and it fell on an older Beast Boy and Robin. 'Oh CRAP THIS IS REALLY BAD!!' She felt her heart sinking into the deepest, darkest pit of her stomach.
"uh… hi?" she questionably asked as she saw the many jumbled looks on their faces.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" a slightly shocked and upset Richard stated, "Are you with the press or something? Why can't you guys ever leave us alone?" Richard burst out of nowhere. A confused look formed on her face as she processed the words he was saying. It hurt to hear her father yell at her like that, but then again he didn't know her so it didn't' leave as big as a scalding. "Answer me! If you want a picture of us or something go right ahead." A frustrated look crossed his face, as he waited for her to respond. Out of nowhere Barbara came running into the dining hall with an exasperated look on her face.
"ONE OF THE PILLARS FROM OUR HOUSE JUST CRUSHED MY CAR FLAT!!" screamed Babs as she went on ranting about how she'll find the culprit. "Wait… who's this girl?" Barbara asked freezing in place when she finally noticed that no one was really listening, just staring at her. All eyes transferred from the ranting fiancée to the strange, ebony haired girl. "Well, who are you?" she impatiently asked while tapping her foot like that rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
"I-I'm um… Mari An-Anders," she hoarsely responded, while shifting her gaze to the floor as if she was taking sudden interest in it. "My mom's Kori Anders." It was a random addition, but she felt that for some reason she needed to say it. Just then Raven's face furrowed from confusion and showed her slight recognition of the name.
"Why are you here?" a kinder voice spoke up. Mari looked up to see Richard looking at her. Richard stared intently into those emerald green eyes and caught something extremely familiar in them.
Gaining the courage, Mari spoke. "To see my father," she finally blurted out and let out a huge breath that she didn't even know she was holding, returning to staring at the floor.
"So where is he?" Garfield (Beast Boy) piped up after being unusually quiet. The changeling seemed to be interested in what she had to say. He seriously matured over the years, but not enough to take away the funny monkey in him.
"oh, um… well you see…" Mari grasped at what she just muttered out. How could she put what she was thinking in words? Letting out a deep sigh, the emerald-eyed girl lifted her head slightly, but not so much so that they could see her eyes. The quiet was torture for her, there was no way she was going to be able to pull this off.
A half-man/ robot came bursting in the room, like he had news to tell them all. His out off breath tone clearly showed. "Yo, did you guys see what happened to Babs' car?" He asked trying to regain his composure, but his comment didn't get the response he obviously wanted. "What I miss?" he added as he came in from the doorway. Cyborg's gaze fell onto the young girl in the chair who looked as if she'd just been shocked by lightning. The girl face was so pale that it seemed Richard was interrogating the poor child. "What'd you to this kid? Don't worry… erm… what's your name?" he said as he kneeled down next to her chair on one knee, while leaning on it.
"Ma-Mari" the girl replied trying to hide her shaky voice from everyone around her. Everyone was surrounding her and it seemed like everyone had it out for her by now, with a few exceptions.
"- well don't worry about him, he's just a little hung up since he's getting married in, like, 6 months. So just chill, alright little lady?" Cyborg said trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. ' Married? This is not good…' Mari gave him a warm smile showing that she understood. "Do you know what's weird? My mom told me you used to call her that, way back before I was born," she calmly told him when she heard the nickname he gave her.
Raven took this chance to squeeze in her question before the girl was drowned in everyone else's. "And who's your mom again?" Raven asked monotonously with a straight face. Her interest and determination to find out why it was so familiar was getting the better of her. The empath saw all eyes on her except Richard's who had his old leader face plastered on him. It was determined and intimidating to most who would suffer enough to actually see it.
"Her name's Kori Anders," she answered back with a stalling look in her eyes. But everyone seemed to be dumbfounded by the name as if they'd never heard of it. "Well, you might know her as… um… what was it? Hey, what's the name of the street we're on?"
"Starlight Lane," Raven answered, obviously becoming impatient with the girl.
The ebony haired girl showed recognition after hearing the street's name. "Oh yeah, you probably know her as Starfire, since most of you are former Titans right?" Starfire?
Garfield eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head, "Whoa, DUDE! So you're telling me that Star's your mom," he added a little uncertainly, "and you're her daughter, whose here to see her… dad, who is where again?" Raven's shock didn't diminish, especially since Gar was able to keep up with what was going on. That was a major shocker to almost everyone, even though Raven had been married to him for almost 20 years now. But nonetheless the shock was immense. The confidence Mari was trying to build plummeted all the way when he asked her, she was really hoping that she would be able to avoid the question for much longer than this.
"My father? Well, he's… um… he's…" she was cut short by Barbara's sudden outburst. "Well spit it out! I don't got all day!" Mari sunk down to the deepest part of her chair, but the outburst didn't surprise her though. Especially since Barbara's car just got smashed by the pillar Mari, not particularly aiming, threw. She picked up her head and tried to look Barbara right in the eye and said, "Fine, you want to know? Then why don't you say hi to him, he's right next to you!"