The Legend of Liya'ad

By Carnifax
Teen Titans
Garth-Roy
Rated T
Drama/Romance
It was just his luck, that Atlantean lore would resurface as far from Atlantis as possible, where no one could help him, or ease his teammates' anxieties, or even help plan an escape route.

So you know that plotbunny that every single fandom can use, and does use? The one where there's body-switching? And there's really awkward sexual tension because the Main Character is in the Love Interest's body, and is able to (ahem) study their anatomy for (ah-hem) purely scientific reasons?

Yeah, "that one." This is "that one." But despite the unoriginality, the reason it's so popular is because… it's so much fun!

Feel free to enjoy:

This can't be happening. This isn't possible.

Garth stared into the mirror at what should've been his own face. But green eyes stared back, filled with more fear and confusion than he'd ever seen reflected in them.

It was written into old Atlantean lore, something called Liya'ad, a day when a young adult would transform into the one he or she was to spend forever with. There were tales of heroes turning into beautiful women, having their portraits painted, and then searching the land and sea for their soon-to-be wives.

There were even tales of mermaidian princesses falling in love with sailors—probably sparking fallacies like the singing sirens, or Disney's The Little Mermaid—and there were certainly enough tales of Atlanteans falling in love with each other. But the transformation, which used to happen exactly on the seventeenth birthday, eventually fell into genetic darkness where it grew obsolete and then vanished completely.

And every generation, for hundreds of years now, thought Liya'ad was only a rumor made up by gossiping wives back in the day. Garth was no exception.

But then, months past his own seventeenth birthday, Garth woke up to find himself taller, tanner, with red hair and startlingly green eyes. The eyes were new—he'd never seen behind that monotone mask—but everything else he recognized, whether it was the muscles, the jawline, or the even, salmon-pink lips that Garth couldn't seem to stop running his tongue over.

The prince put his palms on the sink, leaning forward until his nose nearly touched the mirror. He ran a finger over the arch of his cheekbones, and sighed.

Flawless.

It was just his luck, that Atlantean lore would resurface as far from Atlantis as possible, where no one could help him, or ease his teammates' anxieties, or even help plan an escape route. It was even more suiting that his 'soul mate' was a hotheaded, albeit very attractive, teammate, who Garth happened to consider his best friend.

The day got even worse when the soft whoosh of a hydraulic door reminded him that—whoops—he had forgotten to lock his bedroom door, amidst his wakeup freakout.

"Shafty?" Karen asked once she saw 'Roy' standing stiffly in the bathroom's doorway. "What's up? Why are you in here?"

"Karen," Garth said slowly. He tried to take a step forward, but two stingers were aimed at his chest almost as soon as the name left his lips.

"Who the hell are you?" she hissed. "Raise your hands above your head. Now!"

He linked his fingers behind his head and tried to smile. "Karen, listen to me…"

"What's your name?" she demanded. "Where's my teammate?"

"It's me! It's Aqualad!"

"What are you, a shapeshifter?" Her laugh was brief and jarring. "You aren't a snatcher, I was just having breakfast with Roy, you couldn't have absconded with his body—"

"Karen, I'm Garth." He lowered his hands a little, but returned them to his head when she tightened her grip on the stingers. "I don't know what's going on either—I just woke up like this. Karen, please."

"Do something with water, then," she challenged, reaching for her communicator.

"I can't, I already tried that! And Karen, don't call Roy!"

The leader paused for a moment, thumb only resting on the Speak button of the device. "Why not?"

"Just…" He shook his head. "Just listen to me, for one minute. Then you can call whoever you want. Okay?"

One stinger still pointed at his chest, she nodded, face solemn. "One minute, fine. Go."

Garth suddenly didn't know where to begin. "There's this old Atlantean story, like a fable, except it was apparently true—and it said that sometimes people, at their seventeenth birthday, for just one day, would turn into their soul mate, or one true love, or whatever you want to call it." He swallowed. "And I'm not turning seventeen today, but maybe the tale evolved for simplicity—and I've turned into Roy. I don't know how, or why, or what it means. But I'm Aqualad! So don't sting me." He edged away from her. "Please?"

—

"It's all right, little prince." His mother's soft breath at his ear was such a comfort, her arms linking around his tiny body. He couldn't have been more than three, but he could remember this particular day perfectly.

He had woken to an unfamiliar man shaking him awake, begging him to fetch the queen—'It's urgent,' he kept saying, 'Please Garth, they won't let me in!'

And of course, scared beyond his wits, the prince had started bawling, which collected the attention of numerous guards, two ambassadors, four of his seven cousins and, finally, the queen.

She ended up holding the young boy close, regarding the stranger with a surprisingly pleasant smile.

"It's all right," she murmured again. Scooping Garth up, she nodded to the guards in dismissal and led the other man into her private parlor. Once she had the prince settled in her lap, she smiled at the stranger. "When did you notice the difference?"

"I woke up like this!" His tone was shockingly flippant for someone outside the royal family, let alone someone who had burst into the family's private sectors.

Garth whined, hiding his face in her shoulder. "Mother—"

"Shh, darling." She held his chin, turning him to face the stranger. "Look. This is your cousin, even if she looks different."

"Garth, it's me, Mara." The man grinned.

The prince just cowered. "You're not my cousin! Mara's a girl! And pretty! And she's younger!"

"Shh, it's all right," his mother continued, in a soft voice. "Little one, look at me, it's all right." She smiled when his violet eyes finally stared up into hers. "There we are. Now, do you remember a story I told you? A bedtime story?"

He sniffed, and gave a wary glance over his shoulder at the stranger. "Which story?" he asked, turning quickly to his mother when Mara smiled at him.

"The one where the princess, when she became of age, turned into her true love for a day. The one I told you a few weeks ago… You asked me if that would happen to you, I remember you asking that."

"You said it doesn't happen anymore!" Garth whimpered, bunching the fabric of her shawl in his hands.

"I believe I told you it doesn't happen often, my love. It doesn't happen always, but it doesn't happen never, either."

Garth sniffed again, wiping at his eyes with his tiny palms. After a moment, he looked at the stranger, and squinted. Mara raised her hand out to him; he took it and, considering for a second, let out an amused giggle.

"You're handsome!" he explained, teasingly, and curled up in the queen's arms with a yawn.

—

Garth sat upright on his mattress when the door slid open, revealing a perplexed but relieved Karen. She came into the room, and held out a sheet of paper to him.

He looked it over, but the letters and numbers and plus signs meant nothing to him. "This is…?"

"A genetic summary. Your DNA is still your DNA." She shrugged. "I thought you Atlanteans were weird before, but this takes the cake."

Garth smiled. "So this means you believe me?"

"Absolutely." But then she narrowed her eyes. "Can you elucidate on the whole being Speedy thing, though? He's, what, your"—she snorted—"soul mate? I mean… C'mon. Shafty? And you? Nuh uh."

"I could call Orin," Garth volunteered, simply because he had no answer for her. He only knew the myth, but obviously the myth wasn't entirely factual. "He might—"

"Not a chance."

Garth recoiled at that, a little jarred. "Why not?"

She held up a finger. "First reason: I won't have a crew of leaders running our Tower. If we let in Orin, Roy will want an arrow-y reunion, and he'll drag in Ollie and that tyke Mia, and who knows what kind of mentor the twins have—"

"I get it." He frowned. "What's your next reason?"

"Right." She grinned. "Second reason: Can you imagine Orin's reaction when you tell him that your true love is Speedy?" She laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "I don't even believe it. Are you sure this myth thing is—"

"My cousin turned into her soul mate when I was young," he said quickly, "and she found him after about a year of searching. They were the perfect couple—since they were picked by fate to be together—but, just before I had to leave, he died."

"How?" Karen asked when Garth went silent. "Naturally?"

The Atlantean shook his head. "He was swimming close to the surface—they both were—and a stray harpoon off a human vessel hit him." Garth went quiet again, but only for a moment. "She took him back to the palace, but the healers couldn't help him, and he passed. She didn't have the will to find anyone else. By the time I left, she had—"

He cut himself off abruptly, apparently snapping out of some deep memory, and shook his head. "She seemed to give up all hope. But their love was the epitome of perfection, and I think the myth is at least based on truth."

Karen sighed. "So," she said slowly, arms crossed tightly across her chest, "you… and Roy. Jesus Christ."

"But there are millions of Atlanteans who have never found their soul mates!" he cut in. "This doesn't have to mean anything. If we just keep him from finding me like this, he wouldn't have to know. It's only supposed to last for one day—I can avoid him for that long."

She shifted from one foot to the other, ill at ease with that idea. "But if this is divine will, or whatever you say it is… Shouldn't you try it out with him? Or at least tell Shafty? If someone came up to me one day and told me the gods had sent them, I'd be a little puzzled, but if it turned out perfectly… I'd be happy I took the chance. Right?"

Garth raised a skeptical brow, lifting his hand to run it through his hair—and then he remembered his hair was temporarily much shorter, and dropped it. "Usually this happens with people who have never met, Bee. I don't know what happens when it's me, let alone when it's a guy, and especially not if it's my best frie—Hey, what are y—"

He jerked back when her mouth fell open and she grabbed his face between her hands, her palms cradling his jaw.

"Bee, what—"

"I've never seen Shafty's eyes," she whispered, pulling him closer. She rose up on her toes to get a better look, and let out a whistle. "I don't know why he doesn't show 'em off, they're gorgeous."

Garth chuckled. "I did the same thing."

"You checked out his eyes, too?" Smiling, she let him go. And then her expression changed—she bit her lip, and looked at him through her eyelashes—and her eyes raked down his body. "And what else of his body did you, a-hem, check out, hmm?"

"By Posei—Karen, that's—I wouldn't—You just have a dirty mind!" he accused, a finger pointed directly at her. But even with his darker skin, he couldn't hide the pink tinge in his cheeks.

"So, you did?"

His mouth fell open. "I did not!" came his indignant retort. "And I will not!"

She rolled her eyes, moving toward the door again. "Right, right. You're going to have to use the bathroom sometime, Garth, just remember that." She winked over her shoulder.

"Wait, Bee—so should I just stay in here?"

She made a phone with her hand and spoke without turning around. "Ring me when you need food, or something. Lock your door. I've got to switch the security feeds before anyone sees them."

Next chapter'll be up sometime this weekend… but only if you drop by and say hello in a review.

For the record: This is part two of Carnipalooza 2009. Speaking of which—I only just realized that this story references a seventeenth birthday. This (like the "Volte-Face 17" thing) is a complete coincidence... Although usually two coincidences happening at the same time, in itself, is a coincidence... Non?