A/N Hey guys! It's Sakra again. Another Jericho fic (which I actually think is shorter than the last one ):), only this time, it's Jericho meeting the Titans. I wasn't happy that they just knew about Jericho in Calling All Titans. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands, allowed plot bunnies to form, and then this all happened. It's a nice little one-shot about Jericho and Robin meeting, and how Jericho became an Honorary. At least, to me, how it should've happened. It also makes you realize something. Or, at least, I hope it will. Enjoy! Please review when you're done and tell what you thought of it! :D
"How's the search going, guys? Report in," Robin ordered his team.
"All's calm over here," Cyborg reported.
"Nothing on my end," Beast Boy told him.
"I see no sign of the Private H.I.V.E.," Starfire said.
"And nothing over here," Raven finished.
"Keep searching, guys," Robin ordered. "We still have to capture him. Let's go." The Titans had journeyed to Tibet in search of Private H.I.V.E., who had been reported to have been sighted there. The incredulous height and clouds made it hard to see anything, and the narrow spaces between the mountains made it incredibly hard to land. Finally, Robin spotted a plateau.
"Here's a place to land," he told everyone. "Follow my—" But his orders were cut short when he was hit by something. It hit the jets and broke them easily. Soon, Robin was sent spiraling downwards towards the mountainside.
"What—?" he cried.
"Enemy down!" someone shouted. "I repeat, enemy down!" Robin recognized that voice; Private H.I.V.E. And that was Robin's last thought before he hit the mountainside and blacked out.
Robin moaned. His head pounded. His arm ached. His mind was swirling. Pictures were swimming into his line of vision. He found himself on a large, flat rock in the middle of a flower field. His ears felt clogged; he was high up. Higher than before. Someone dragged him here. Nut who? He felt the back of his head; there was a bandage around it, and it felt sticky and warm with blood. He looked at his arm, which was held in a tight splint.
Good thing whoever—whatever—saved me knew first-aid, he thought to himself. If he didn't know any better, he'd thought he was going insane; he heard the sounds of a guitar being strung. He looked around; he didn't see anyone. Until he turned around, that is.
Sitting there was a blond boy, a teen, like him. He had long, blond hair that came down on the sides of his face. He had a white, long-sleeved shirt under a purple tunic with a gold belt and black pants. He had purple boots on, with gold cuffs around the top and on his wrists. His most prominent feature was his emerald green eyes. He was skillfully playing the guitar while sitting on a rock, cross-legged.
"Um, excuse me," Robin stuttered. The boy stopped and looked up. "Um, did you rescue me?" The boy smiled and nodded. "Uh, thanks. I'm Robin, who are you?" The boy stared at him. "What?" The boy put his fingers to his throat. "You can't speak?" The boy shook his head. "You do have a name, though, right?" The boy scrunched his eyebrows together as though offended and nodded. Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out a pen and one slip of paper.
"Here," he offered, "use this. I should at least know your name." The boy blinked, then took it. He carefully wrote something down on the paper:
Jericho.
"You're name's Jericho?" Robin questioned. Jericho nodded. "Where'd you find me? Where's the rest of my team?" Jericho seemed startled. He pointed west, where the sun was just setting, and Robin saw his part of the T-Ship stuck the side of the mountain. Jericho then shrugged. Robin pulled out his communicator.
"Titans, come in!" he ordered. "Starfire? Cyborg? Beast Boy? Raven? Hello?" There was no answer. He saw his communicator cracked. Must've gotten hit by the impact, Robin thought grimly. Jericho stood up and slung his guitar over his shoulder. He stared at the sun, which was just passing behind a mountain. He signaled for Robin to follow him.
"I'm sorry, but I can't," Robin apologized. "I have to find the rest of my team!" Jericho gave him a hard stare and shook his head, pointing to his broken arm and tapping his own head to remind Robin of the massive pain. "But—" Jericho shook his head again, then pointed at the sun. Robin looked behind Jericho and saw the moon rising.
"…Fine," Robin grumbled. "I'll stay for the night. But then I have to find my friends." Jericho nodded in understanding, then ran off with Robin trailing behind. He followed the mute to a large cave, where Jericho entered without hesitation. Robin, however, stopped before slowly following Jericho inside.
Deep inside the cave was a small, but cozy-looking camp. A small fire was burning, but was about to go out, so Jericho added a bit more wood to it. Robin saw a forest green sleeping bag and blue blanket near the fire, and a few sticks lying away from the firewood, all of which had a sharpened point. Robin heard running water.
"Is there a river nearby?" he asked. Jericho nodded, then pointed farther into the cave. Getting a look of realization on his face, he walked deeper in. After a few minutes of splashing around, Jericho came back with two fish caught in a net made of seaweed that was carefully weaved together.
Jericho lay the net down and unraveled it, the fish flopping around, trying to find water. Jericho left them to flop around as he went to grab two sticks. He used a rag to clean them off, and one of the fish twitched and stopped moving. He stabbed it with the tip of the stick, and handed it to Robin. At his confused look, Jericho flicked his head towards the fire.
"Oh," Robin said, feeling stupid. He took it, sat on a rock, and held it over the fire. Jericho stabbed the other fish and held it over the fire after sitting on another rock.
"You don't get a lot of company here, do you?" Robin asked. Jericho looked at him sadly and shook his head. "Why do you live up here on a mountain?" Robin nearly slapped himself due to knowing Jericho wouldn't be able to answer the question. Surprisingly, Jericho shrugged. They sat there in silence for a few minutes as their fish cooked through—well, Jericho's did. Robin's was kinda burned on the outside. They ate together in silence as well. Around midnight, Jericho slowly crept towards the mouth of the cave.
"Where—?" Robin began, but Jericho put his finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet. Jericho signaled for Robin to follow him, and Robin silently complied. Jericho led him to the mouth of the cave, and sat down at the entrance, lying against the sides. Robin took a spot opposite of him.
What's he doing? Robin questioned. Why're we out here in the dead of night?
Suddenly, he heard a song. Not like the songs that Cyborg and Beast Boy listen to. There was no guitar, no drums, no heavy bass in the background, making the lyrics impossible to be heard. In fact, there were no lyrics. He heard wolves, lots of them, howling into the night. It was…heart racing. They sounded so near. He saw the black silhouette of a wolf's head high in the air, howling, singing…and then, a few birds joined in, namely the blackbirds. He heard a few frogs join in, croaking a bass. Suddenly, he heard it.
He heard the music for what it was. Songbirds as sopranos. Wolves as altos. Frogs as the baritones. Each animal was different in their own way. But yet, they collided together for perfect harmony. Robin's lived in the city for so long; he's never heard this type of music. He though music was a singer behind a mic and a band right behind them. But what he didn't realize was that not all music was like that. What he was listening to was Nature's Song.
"Is this…?" Robin began, but all Jericho did was smile and continue to watch the wolf silhouette howling in the distance. But then, Robin realized why Jericho wanted him to be silent. Each night would be a different song, as Nature's Song changes every night. If you miss one, you'd never hear it again, for it was gone, like the wind. The two teens wanted to savor it; Robin more than anything. For he knew that, once he got back to Jump City, he'd never hear the wondrous tunes of nature again.
Robin awoke the next morning to see Jericho gone.
"Jericho?" he called into darkness. The fire had burned out when they were asleep. "You here?" He knew Jericho wouldn't be able to call back, but maybe he'd give Robin some sort of sign. Robin only heard the sounds of the stream…and the sounds of a struggle.
"Jericho!" Robin shouted, running outside. He saw Jericho trying to fend off Private H.I.V.E, but not doing very well. He understood why; Jericho must have been taken by surprise. His arm was cut and bleeding freely, so Jericho must be in too much pain to try and fight back his hardest. Robin got out his bo-staff and joined in the fight. He threw the splint on the ground.
Robin jumped up and aimed to hit Private H.I.V.E over the head. H.I.V.E. saw it, and quickly tried to move out of the way, only getting hit on the shoulder. He then ran from Robin, trying to keep his distance. H.I.V.E. threw his shield like a discus, and it hit Robin in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Jericho had the strength to stand, and he ran after H.I.V.E. He grabbed his guitar and swung it over his shoulder at him. H.I.V.E. didn't have enough time to react. Jericho hit H.I.V.E. with the side of his precious guitar, knocking him to the ground. While H.I.V.E. was on the ground, Jericho ran up to him and knelt down, eye level with him.
"Jericho!" Robin called. "Now's not the time to give mercy!" But that's not what Jericho was doing. He was staring H.I.V.E. in the eyes. But then, Jericho morphed into Private H.I.V.E. When H.I.V.E. opened his eyes, they were emerald green—exactly like Jericho's—instead of the usual black.
"Who said anything about mercy?" Private H.I.V.E. said, standing up.
"What have you done to Jericho?" Robin demanded.
"What're you-? Oh yeah." H.I.V.E. slapped his forehead. "It's me, Robin. Jericho."
"Jericho?" Robin questioned. "But how-?"
"It's my power," Jericho explained from inside of H.I.V.E. "When I make direct eye contact with someone, I can take over their body. Possess them, if you will. Don't worry, I can get out of here, too. Luckily, if the person I'm possessing has functioning vocal cords, I can speak through them."
"That's…a bit creepy," Robin admitted.
"It's a bit strange, but you get used to it," Jericho informed.
"So, you have total control over him?" Robin asked. Jericho made H.I.V.E. nod.
"Hey, watch this," Jericho laughed. Then, he punched himself in the face. "Quit hitting myself! Ugh! Quit hitting myself! Ugh!" Robin couldn't help himself. He broke down in fits of laughter as Jericho kept making Private H.I.V.E. punch himself in the face.
"Robin!" someone familiar called. He turned and saw his team running towards him.
"You are safe!" Starfire shouted gleefully, pulling Robin into a bone-breaking hug. She then gasped when she saw H.I.V.E. behind Robin. The Titans aimed their weapons at him.
"STOP!" Robin ordered.
"WHAT?" the Titans screamed. Robin turned to H.I.V.E.
"Jericho, get out of there!" Robin told him. Jericho separated himself from H.I.V.E. before Cyborg blasted the possessor. H.I.V.E.'s body fell limply to the ground.
"Cyborg!" Robin shouted as Jericho was blasted farther back and knocked out cold. "What're you doing?"
"Savin' you!" Cyborg answered, preparing another shot at Jericho.
"But he saved me earlier!" Robin retorted. "He's a good guy!"
"How can you be sure he wasn't trying to kill you?" Beast Boy asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Because if he was evil," Raven drawled, "he would've killed Robin the first chance he got or left him there to die. He's obviously a good guy." Cyborg's face went red in embarrassment.
"Oops…" Robin glared at him while he slinked to the ground, out of view. Robin ran over to Jericho. He knelt down and shook his shoulder.
"Jericho?" he called. "You okay?" The blonde's body shook slightly before he opened his eyes. He pushed himself up and nodded. Robin helped him up.
"Sorry 'bout that," Robin apologized sheepishly. "They're just trying to protect me." Jericho nodded in understanding. "This is my team; Starfire,"—the alien girl waved ecstatically—"Beast Boy,"—the changeling waved casually—"Cyborg,"—the cyborg avoided looking at Jericho for obvious reasons—"and Raven." The half-demon pulled her hood down. "Together, we're the Teen Titans. Guys, this is Jericho." The possessor smiled at them. "He rescued me earlier when I crashed. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for this guy."
"What about H.I.V.E.?" Cyborg questioned, looking at the unconscious villain.
"Jericho possessed him," Robin explained. At their strange looks, he elaborated; "Jericho's powers are possessing people if he makes direct eye contact with them. He used his powers on H.I.V.E. and knocked him out cold."
A few moments later, H.I.V.E. was bound by the wrists and ankles at the feet of the T-Ship. There was a sizable about missing on the ship itself. Jericho's arm was being fixed by Raven.
"Sorry 'bout the ship, Cy," Robin apologized.
"Not your fault," Cyborg assured. "I can fix it." Robin then had an idea. He reached inside Beast Boy's compartment and took out an unused communicator. He walked over to Jericho, whose body shook as if laughing; probably at something Raven had said.
"Hey, Jericho, Raven," Robin greeted.
"He'll be fine," Raven reported. "It was a little cut, but deep. What's the communicator for?" Robin offered it to Jericho.
"Here," he said. "I'm willing to bet the Private H.I.V.E. won't be the first villain to attack you. With this, you can keep in touch with us as an Honorary Titan. If you ever need help, there's this button you press here." Robin showed him a little button on the side. "Since you can't talk, you can press this, and we can figure out your location and help you out in case of trouble." Jericho stared pensively at the communicator in Robin's hands, contemplating the offer. Just as Raven snipped the excess bandages off his arm, he grabbed it and nodded at Robin determinedly.
"Thanks Raven," Robin said. Raven simply nodded and glided away. "Glad to have you on the team. Thanks…for everything." With that, Robin piled into Cyborg's compartment and the group disappeared.
Jericho smiled to himself as he watched them disappear over the mountains he called home. He had the communicator. He was a Titan now. Well, Honorary, but still a Titan at heart. But, more importantly, he gained the one thing he never though he could have.
A friend.