Author's note: Solor of the Light is owned by "The King of Emerald", Used by permission. Edward Barnes is owned by Splinter1, likewise used by permission. Teen Titans is owned by DC Comics/Cartoon Network/Warner Brothers.

Prologue
[Titans Tower]

Edward Barnes writes...

They say that a universe's history is changed by the smallest decision and that other universes are created when a decision or factor changes.

I know that for a fact. During the planning of Solor and Starfire's wedding, one aspect of a Tear of Oblivion came into play that had severe repercussions on a lot of people and dragons. Like what happened in my universe, history is repeating itself, but in Solor's universe. His original universe, that is. The fight with Trigon never happened as I think that when Solor was tossed to my world, there were two Solors created. One ended up in my home, and the other one merely bounced back to his universe without ever meeting me. Therefore, the timeline that was experienced, at least to this Solor, never happened at all. Trigon won't be summoned for a while, and if my remembered history of the Teen Titans is correct, this is at least two years before I meet my team.

The link to my Raven is gone. It was snapped when I landed here and I am not a happy dragon. What's worse, in this world, I do not exist at all. In fact, while the dragons I know certainly exist, they do not know me, either. I thought that the culture shock was bad the first time. This is not going to be easy for me.

I know who did this and when I return, the Dark Dragon that sent me here will not live long enough to regret crossing me. But, I have to wait until I am rescued and hope that day isn't too long in coming.

[Crossover universe - a year after "Trigon's Dark Army"]

Edward and Rachael had spent the last year preparing for two major events. The first was a new arrival as they welcomed a beautiful daughter into the world. After they returned to their universe, it did not take long for her to become pregnant. After much discussion, they opted for Callisto Paula Barnes for the baby's name, to honor Edward's first loves and with the arrangement that the next child would be named to honor those Raven held dear.

The second was helping to plan Solor and Kreinyol's wedding in their universe. And that's where the problem started.

Edward and Rachael were visiting the Teen Titans to continue the planning, and to spend time with Soskrein, Solor's daughter.

Now, Soskrein was a unique baby dragon, a hybrid of light and dark dragons who was also developing quite fast. She had already learned to talk and had taken her first flights recently, much to everyone's surprise. But, imagine her surprise when she learned that she could alter her form! It took both Solor and "Uncle Beast Boy" to assure her that she was actually normal and that the discomfort of shapeshifting she would get used to. She panicked when her bones shifted, but, at Solor's gentle coaxing, she continued her lessons. When Edward would visit, she would pepper him with questions about his own morphing abilities. Edward would explain it to her in terms she could understand.

However, there was evil afoot in the Dark Lair. While the first Grand Darkness had been killed at the end of the war, there were still Dark Dragons who wanted revenge on those who defeated them, especially older dragons who were unwilling to accept their defeat and one of them was Nightmare. He had failed in his mission to capture both Rachael and Raven and was a marked dragon. He had to redeem himself in the eyes of the other Dark Dragons regardless of what Vilea said. She had been flipped near the end of the war and was trying to reintegrate the Dark Dragons into Lair. It was slow going as the younger dragons were willing to go to Lair, but, the older ones were refusing to return to Lair and in denial that Oblaan had been vaporized, especially hearing that Oblaan had been killed by a mere youngster.

So, Nightmare decided to carry out his threat against Edward. Nightmare knew that Edward was one of the strongest Dragons who fought for Lair against Trigon a year ago and combined with Solor, managed to defeat both of the big players in the war. Edward and Solor had teamed up to send Trigon packing along with the mortal heroes of the world and Oblaan had made the mistake of enraging Solor to the point he access a Primal Blessing. Oblaan defended himself, but, the power Solor used overwhelmed the much older dragon. After that, the Dark Dragons were defeated.

He decided to wait until it was obvious that he could catch Edward unaware and open a Tear of Oblivion to a different universe. The fact that Edward and Rachael were not visiting more than a couple days out of the month made it harder for Nightmare to figure out when to strike, at least initially.

But, what he did manage to do was possess Beast Boy for a while. He took control one evening when his defenses were down and he would think he was dreaming anyway. He looked at the calendar to determine when Edward's next physical visit would be.

He didn't count on Soskrein walking up to him, wanting to play. It took all his self-control not to break her neck, even though it would frame Beast Boy perfectly. He told her that he had other things to do and would play with her later. She looked at him funny, though, before walking away.

He returned Beast Boy to Terra's side and departed, leaving Beast Boy thinking that he had a weird dream.

Now, today, Soskrein was sitting anxiously at her spot at the dining room table, eating her high-protein breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and ham. She was currently in a human form, having been told by her father that she needed to practice using hands like a normal human. She was in the body of an average 8 year old girl, with red hair that matched Kreinyol and the tanned skin that Solor's human form had. The only thing about her that showed she wasn't human was her eye color, which was blood red. That tiny detail was still hard for her to alter, and she couldn't keep her eyes from changing back after a few moments, so until she got more practice shape-shifting, she was stuck with red eyes. Which was fine with her; she thought they looked cool.

"When is Uncle Edward coming?" she asked her father, who was sitting next to her, eating a similar breakfast.

Solor chuckled at her, smiling. "Well, someone's anxious to see her favorite uncle." He looked at the clock. "Well, he'll be here in maybe thirty minutes. It depends on what he's planning to bring. You know he's helping me and your mother plan the wedding."

"Thirty minutes is too long!" she retorted. "I want him to be here now!"

"Susie", Solor said, calling her by her human name, "you must learn to be patient. Uncle Edward waited over three thousand years before he knew who his mother was. You can wait fifteen minutes for him to get here."

Soskrein grumbled, and took a bite of bacon. "I still want him to hurry up", she said, her mouth full.

Solor poked her in the side, causing her to squeak. "No talking with your mouthful. You're a dragon, not a pig."

Susie chose to reply after she finished her bite. "Of course not. If I was, I wouldn't be eating bacon."

"Okay, smartypants", Solor jabbed back, chuckling. "And if you were, then I'd be gobbling you up."

"But you won't, because I'm too cute to eat", Susie countered, smiling.

"Oh really?" Solor said, suddenly pulling her over. She let out a small shriek before laughing as he pretended to eat her, placing his mouth on her neck and tickling lightly with his teeth.

Kreinyol chose that moment to walk in, hearing her bumgorf laughing down the hall. "Husband, what have I said about letting Soskrein finish her breakfast before you try to eat her?"

Solor only stuck out his tongue. "You're just jealous because she likes me more", he said to his wife. "Isn't that right, Soskrein?"

"Mommy! Help me! He's gonna eat me!" was the reply, laced with high pitched giggles.

"Spoilsport", Solor muttered, and let his daughter go so she could finish her breakfast. He spoke up in the dragon tongue. "Have you been keeping up with your lessons, Soskrein?"

"Yes, Father", came the little girl's reply. "Aunt Raven has been helping me with my languages, Uncle Robin with my combat training, Uncle Cyborg with technology, Uncle Beast Boy with my shapeshifting, and Aunt Terra with my geography. And Grandpa has been calling every night to help me with my history lessons, both human and dragon."

"What about your Tamaranian studies?" asked Kreinyol in her own native tongue.

"I've been able to keep up pretty good, k'norfka", Soskrein said, smiling at her adoptive mother. "I still have a few hiccups with the history of Tamaran, but I think I have the language down pretty well."

"You know you can always ask, my dear bumgorf," Kreinyol replied with a smile.

"Good", Solor said, smiling. "I'm glad you're not slacking at all. I'm sure you'll make your ancestors proud with how you're progressing." He took another bite of his breakfast, finishing it up before dabbing his lips with a napkin. "Now, hurry up, Soskrein. I'm sure Edward would love to see you in your Hello Kitty pajamas, but I think you'd rather get ready so you can play with him a bit before he has to work with me and your mother."

"Yes, Daddy", Soskrein said, smiling before she began finishing her breakfast, only a few bites left. Once she finished, she headed for her room to get ready.

"Isn't it amazing?" Solor said to his wife. "It seems not too long ago that Soskrein was a mere hatchling and just beginning to worm her way into our friends' hearts, and now she's morphing into a mortal form and learning three languages at once. Where does the time go?"

Kreinyol laughed, and walked over to him. "If anyone would know, it would be you. You are the oldest of us all."

"And yet the mystery of time eludes even us Dragons", Solor replied. "It also makes me wonder... how different would we be if we never met Edward? Or if Vilea and I never had Soskrein?"

Kreinyol shook her head, forcing Solor to face her. "I would rather not think of the would have and could have been. I want to focus on the can be and will be. We only have a few months before the wedding. After that, in the eyes of humans, we will be married. And I still wish we could hurry this up."

Solor chuckled, kissing her lips. Even now, a couple years after they've gotten together, he still loved her as strongly as the day he told her that he did. "My love, we are married. And I understand, wanting the rest of the world to see it that way. That is the only reason why I want to go through with this, because you want to go through with it as well. But we must be patient; we needed to pick a time when Edward and Rachael are both able to visit and perform their duties as Best Man and Maid of Honor. And with Rachael nearing the end of her pregnancy, we should wait a little longer until she is used to being a mother. As much as it is about us, we wouldn't even be together right now if it weren't for them."

"I understand", Kreinyol said, smiling. "I am happy for them, and cannot wait to play with the little one."

"You'll make a great godmother", the dragon said. "Come now. Let us prepare for Edward and Rachael's visit. I'm assuming Rachael won't want to move very far, so I'll take Edward and Soskrein to the park so that we can talk without disrupting your planning here at the tower." He took his wife's hand, leading her away so they could prepare for the day.

[Dark Lair]

Nightmare was plotting as he knew that Edward and his "mate" would be arriving at some point and he was ready. He felt it necessary to avenge the loss of Oblaan and if his plans worked right, he's punish Edward and his allies in one fell swoop.

"They will rue the day that they banished Trigon and killed Grand Darkness! Then, once they are out of the way, Vilea will be reminded why we will never cower before the Light! She will be forced to abandon her hopes of redemption because the Circle will turn on her for allowing their favored Child to be banished forever!"

Nightmare was sure that this would demoralize those pesky Titans as well. He had realized when Solor was temporarily banished to the cursed hybrid's universe that the Teen Titans were not at their best, and, when that alien girl also disappeared, the Teen Titans were badly demoralized. If Edward were to be successfully banished, his mate would be very demoralized thinking he was dead.

[Edward's universe - Titan Tower]

Edward was concerned. He needed to go visit Solor but, wasn't sure if Raven should continue to make the trips. She was already 8 months along, almost 9 months, actually and even though the Tower's AI predicted a normal human pregnancy, there was the fact that his baby girl was also half Dragon, 1/4 human and 1/4 Trigon made things interesting. The sonor grams over the months did indicate a "normal" hybrid was developing, even Edward had no idea what that would entail as his son was born almost 200 years before sonor grams were invented.

"I'll be all right," Raven said, picking up on Edward's concern, "The Tears aren't sucking us in and spitting us out like they did with Solor and his Starfire. The baby is well protected anyway. The sooner we get the plans finalized, the better for everyone."

"I know," he replied, "But, for some reason, I'm worried that something still could go wrong, probably over there. I hope it's nothing."

Little did they know...Darkness had plans for them that would affect three universes!