Chapter One: Link and the Titans

It had been three days since I had returned to Jump City after my three year journey to reassemble the spirit key. It was around mid-afternoon and my friends, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire, and I had just succeeded in stopping a criminal from robbing the local bank.
He had a weird suit that looked like it had a light-bulb on the front, and with it he was able to use this strange light for attacks. He called himself 'Dr. Light', though I'm not entirely sure how he thinks himself to be a doctor. Also, he really shouldn't have been using light to commit crimes. I should know; I've met with the light spirits. During the battle he didn't seem all too intimidated by us, until he went up against me though. I guess he was caught by surprise because I'm 'new' to the team. During the time I was gone my friends had begun calling their team the 'Teen Titans', and I was one too… I think. Oh, let me reintroduce myself; my name is Link.

After we all watched Dr. Light get hauled off to jail, everyone congratulated each other for their part in the fight. Particularly, I received a lot of praise, even though I really didn't do much. I guess it was because I was new.

"How did you learn to fight like that?" Robin asked me.

"Well, I had battled some monsters during my travels. I really just learned what I know from those fights." I answered.

Cyborg gave me a pat on the back that almost knocked me down, commenting on how I did in the fight. He also happened to use the phrase 'booyah' again.

"I thought you were only going to say that once." I asked him while laughing slightly.

"Did I say that?" he asked. "Well… I lied okay!"

We all started laughing after that; well, all of us except Raven. She never really seemed to show much emotion at all. I wonder why?

"Count yourself lucky, Link. You only managed to win that battle because Dr. Light had no idea who you were or what you could do." Raven told me.

She was right. In fact, it was the same thing in the two other fights we were in before in the last two days. In both fights, I had only managed to prevail because my opponents weren't prepared for me.

"Raven's right. You did okay in this fight, and during training, but don't expect to be so lucky next time." Robin told me.

I already knew that. Even so I felt a little upset hearing it, thinking that they didn't think I had any skill. Starfire could tell I was feeling bad from that comment, so she tried cheering me up.

"Do not worry Link. Even when you run out of the luck, I'm sure you will do okay. As long as you keep practicing you'll be fine." She told me.
Hearing that almost instantly got me back in a good mood.

"So, who's up for pizza?" Cyborg asked.
Everyone else agreed, although I was a bit confused.

"That sounds great! But I just have one question." I told him.

"What?" Cyborg responded.

"What is pizza?" I asked.

When they heard me asked that, they were all very surprised and asked me if I was joking. But I wasn't joking, I had really never heard of anything called 'pizza'.

"Dude, you don't know what you've been missing. C'mon lets go." Beast Boy said.

A little later, we all arrived at the place they had all been talking about. Once there, I saw what this 'pizza' was. It was circular, and cut into triangles. It looked really weird too. It smelled good though, and everyone was urging me to try it.
Well it couldn't have been any worse than eating bugs on my journey, so I tried it. Turns out it was WAY better than bugs. I was enjoying my time there, but something bothered me a little. Everyone at the table was giving me a strange look.

"Umm… is something wrong?" I asked.

"There's just… something weird about you." Robin told me.

"Yeah, it kinda feels like we shouldn't be anywhere near you." Beast Boy told me.

When I heard this I felt bad again. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Ever since I was little, people have gotten this unwelcome feeling from being around me. As such, almost everyone avoided me. I wasn't sure why, as I'm usually a nice person. After seeing the sad look on my face though, Raven forcefully elbowed Beast Boy's arm.

"Don't worry about it Link. People get the same kind of feeling from me." Raven told me.

"We try not to notice though." Starfire told me. "You are still our friend."

I smiled. I almost thought that they wouldn't want me around anymore. I was glad that I was wrong about that.

Later, back at Titans Tower, I was spending decided to walk around the tower. I didn't really have anything else to do, and it was better than just sitting on the couch all day (I didn't have my own room yet). As I walked through the hall I noticed that a door to one of the rooms was open. Inside it looked kind of dark, with weird designs and statues. The sign on the front of the door read 'Raven'. This must've been her room.
My curiosity got the better of me and I went inside. It certainly was different from any other room in the tower; a lot different. I examined a bookshelf that was in the room that was packed with books of all kinds. I guess Raven liked to read a lot. A second later, I heard someone behind me, and unfortunately, it was Raven.

"What are you doing in my room?" Raven asked me.

She startled me with her sudden appearance, so much so that I almost crashed into the bookshelf.

"I'm sorry. Your door was open and I… couldn't resist looking around." I answered.

"Well, ordinarily I would just boot you out. But since you're here there is something I want to show you." she told me.

She then walked up to the bookshelf that I was just examining, and pulled out several books. She then pulled out a book from the back row, a really old looking book. It was a faded green color and had three triangles stacked together on the cover. The title however was written in a foreign language.

"I've been holding onto this book for a while. I was planning to give it to you if you ever came back." Raven said.

She then handed me the book, but I asked her why she was giving it to me. To answer my question, she opened the book to the first few pages, and on one of those pages was a very faded picture of what looked like a person holding a sword and shield. But what really surprised me was the fact that this person seemed to be wearing an outfit that was almost exactly like mine; not only that but he also had pointed ears like mine!

"I haven't been able to translate anything in this book, but when I saw this picture, I immediately thought of you." She told me. "Maybe you'll have more luck with it than I did."

For all I knew, this book might actually help me figure out who I really was. I thanked Raven, and then politely left her room.

Later that night, I wasn't able to sleep, so I decided to go up to the roof of the tower and just gaze up at the stars; just like I did back in my hometown, Lanayru Village. The view of the city from the roof was incredible. I was able to see all the way to the mountains on the other side. Even so, what I really wanted to see was the night sky. I sat down near the edge of the roof and just looked up. I was so focused on the stars that I had failed to notice Starfire had come outside.

"Did our couch have… the lumps?" she asked me.

She had surprised me a little, but that was okay. I was glad that she was here.

"No, the couch was fine. I just couldn't sleep, so I came out here." I answered.

She was curious as to why I had come out here. I explained to her that back in my hometown I would often sneak out at night and gaze at the night sky at my… special place.

"I can't really explain why, but looking at the stars just makes me feel… happy." I told her.

Starfire then sat down next to me and looked up at the sky like I was doing. I remembered that she had come from space herself; from the planet Tamaran. I think that's what she called it.

"The sky does look nice tonight." She told me.

It was at that moment that a small breeze blew across us, and I had not noticed that it had blown something out of my pocket. Starfire did though, and went to retrieve it before it rolled too far way.

"Link, this rolled out of your pocket." She said as she returned it to me.

The item that had escaped my pocket was a small round gemstone that had two lights, a blue light and a green light, swirling around inside it. It was my spirit gem, a gem that had formed on the day that I met Starfire.

"My spirit gem! It could've rolled off the tower! Thank you Starfire." I said.

"Spirit gem?" she asked me.

I told her everything that I knew about it; mainly that it mysteriously formed on the day we met when I 'accidentally' caught one of her starbolts. She found that to be very strange, and I agreed with her. I wasn't sure myself what it was for, but I did tell her that whenever I held it I would always think of her.

"Your adventure across the Earth must have been hard for you." she said.

"It was. But the worst of it wasn't during any fights or crossing dangerous terrain. It was because I was all alone during the entire journey." I told her. "Throughout all of it, all I wanted was for it to be over, so I could come back here. So I didn't have to be alone anymore…"

When she heard that, she came a little closer to me. I could tell that she felt bad for me, because a split second later, she hugged me. It wasn't the same bone-crushing hug she gave me when I returned from my journey; it was more like the hug that she gave me before I left on my journey. It was gentle.

"You do not have to be alone anymore, Link." She said while hugging me. "You are among friends. And I will always be here for you."

I don't think she noticed, but a tear fell from my eye after she said that. Never in my life had anyone shown me this much kindness. No one had ever cared about me like she did. The hug lasted a few more seconds, and then we both decided it was getting a bit too cold, so we headed back inside. However, neither of us knew that while we were out there on the roof…. Someone was watching us.

As it would turn out, Ghirahim, the pale man in a white leotard and red cape that had followed me during my three year journey, had been watching us. I wasn't there for this part, but after spying on us, Ghirahim teleported himself to an undisclosed and dark location. There was another person there too.

"Master, I have news to report. It would seem that Link is re-integrating with his friends without much trouble." Ghirahim told whoever was there. "And it would also seem that he is quite fond of the alien girl… perhaps a bit too fond of her."

The other person stepped forward, revealing himself to be wearing black armor and wearing a brown and black mask. As it would turn out, this masked man was the same villain that had murdered my old mentor, Roland Nobleman, three years ago.

"Interesting. From my past encounters with the Titans, I know that this is information that I can use against him." The masked man said, softly laughing evilly afterwards.