"Well, looks like Starfire said yes," said Beast Boy, casually eating his organic cereal.
"I know this isn't normal, but I actually feel like jumping around for no reason," replied Raven, finishing up her herbal tea.
"So, how far do you think they got before they remembered about that private dimension you made?"
Raven put down her cup and surveyed the damage in the living room. It was only to that area, and the worst she could see were starbolt-torn couch cushions and cracks in the windows. Clearly, the couple was becoming much better at their love making.
"Well, I can see Robin's tie but not his pants, so I'm guessing second base."
Beast Boy did a spit take, followed by a slight chuckle. "I'm sorry, but I'm just surprised that you know what that is!"
"I read books, Beast Boy. I know how intimate relations work. And I've heard every single thing you've ever said, so I know how to speak stupid."
"Hey, don't be dissin' my stupid speak! It's made me a millionaire!"
"What?"
A few moments later, they were both sitting in front of a computer screen, showing the funniest moments of Beast Boy's Let's Play series.
"So, millions of people pay you to sit on your ass, play those dumb games, and overreact while spouting nonsense at the intellectual level of a failing middle schooler?" asked a confused Raven.
"Yup! By now, I'm sure I'm past your royalties for being a Tokyo gum mascot!"
"Yeah, I still don't know how that happened."
"Well, at least we're all set for adulthood. There your thing, my thing, Robin's thing, Starfire's thing, Cyborg's thing…"
"Cyborg has been making money?"
"Yeah, he's made a VR machine that links up to your nervous system and puts all five of your senses into the virtual world! Bumblebee loves it!"
"How do you know this?"
"I … most certainly do not use my shape-shifting to sneak in and watch!" Beast Boy responded with a nervous fake smile.
Speak of the devil, Cyborg himself burst into the room.
"Titans, emergency!"
"Oh, hi Cyborg, buddy!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "Just talking about you! How are things with Bumblebee?"
"Uh, just fine … wait, are you spying on me?"
"Uh, no! Definitely not!"
Cyborg then turned to Raven. "Rae, did green man say he did something stupid?"
"Does he ever do anything else?"
Beast Boy gave out a good chuckle. "Good one, Raven! Never afraid to tell it like it is!"
"Sure I am. Now what's the emergency?"
Cyborg replied, "I just got a message from … hey, who trashed my stereo surround sound!"
"Robin popped the question last night!" explained Raven. "Got a little too excited."
"Oh," said Cyborg with a bit of happiness mixed with his irritation. "Well, we're gonna have to clean up before … oh, there she is."
The three of them turned to face the angelic figure floating outside the window.
/
Starfire awoke feeling just as happy as when she had fallen asleep. She rolled over and did a push, lifting her naked body over their massive bed. She could the pressure between her engagement, her fingers, and the mattress, and gazed happily at the man who had promised to be her grimgorf – her husband – a companion to be more of a friend than all other friends, to share completely in body, mind and soul.
He crawled over her naked body and wrapped her left hand around his right, so that both their engagement rings touched. She calmly blew into his ear, waking him up. He returned the gesture with a smile.
"Thank you, my grimgorf-Earth-fiancé! It is only sad that you cannot make me happier."
"Well, what if we had our wedding day … on Blorthog?"
Starfire's mouth opened in amazement and happiness.
"I know that it's your people's most sacred day, so why not make it our most sacred day?"
"Oh, yes, Robin! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
And she continued to thank him by embracing his head and kissing his lips. Her excitement made her roll the two of them over until her legs knocked over a shelf. A small box opened up, and a bright violet light shone out of it. Distracted, Robin turned to look and realizing that he ha d sen the contents, Starfire pushed her fiance off of him, went for the box and closed it tight.
"Star, was that … a Lantern Ring?"
"Yes," she replied ashamedly.
"So, are you with one of the Lantern Corps now?"
"No. This ring came to me once we'd come back from Tokyo. IT said that my heart was full of love and I should be one of the Star Sapphires."
"And you don't want that?"
"No, I do! I would love to be able to help more people, but all the love that they say I have..." Starfire closed the box and set it on a new shelf. "I want it to be for you! I don't want to spend another day away from you. I don't want to spend each day worrying if it will be the last to spend with you. I just want us to be together, forever, to be normal."
Robin walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "So do I," he replied, and then surprisingly tripped her over and caught her in his arms. Then he jumped back into bed with her as they embraced and kissed once again.
"So, you don't think it's bad? That I do not wish to be a Lantern?"
"All the Lantern Corps will wait til their members are ready. Besides, I'd love to continue being a hero too, but I found something better – worshipping my goddess!"
Their lips embraced again and they continued to roll on the mattress until Cyborg came through the interdimensional intercom.
"Hey, lovebirds. we got an emergency out here. Code yellow!"
/
Robin and Starfire quickly got changed and left their pocket dimension for the Titans Tower living room. Expecting to see the place tidied up for a special arrival, they instead found Beast Boy and Cyborg being juggled along with the living room furniture. Raven was meditating, keeping a safe distance away from the one juggling, who was none other than the Girl of Steel herself.
Upon seeing Robin, Supergirl happily shouted his name before dropping everyone/everything she'd been juggling. She rushed to hug him, and surprisingly did so without causing any bodily harm. "It's been so long, Robin! How've you been!"
"PRetty good, I guess."
"Well, that's putting it lightly!" Supergirl kept talking as she cleaned up her mess. "Honestly, I didn't think you were cut out for this whole team leader thing. In fact, when that cyclops guy took over the city, I was honestly tempted to come help you. But I knew you and trusted you, and here you, the greatest leader a band of heroes could ask for!"
"Wait, you could have helped us all this time?" Asked Beast Boy.
"Yes, well, the League tasked me with handling A and B-list criminals," Supergirl explained, "while you guys handle the smaller fry. And you've all done a pretty good job … Donna?"
Everyone turned to see that Donna Troy had entered the living room from the back entrance. "Kara?"
"Wait, you two know each other?" Asked BB.
"Yes, she assists me to fight magical enemies..."
"Star, give me details!" Demanded Donna, now getting in her best friend's face. "I neeed to know everything about how he popped the question!"
Kara flew down in front of the new couple in esteemed happiness. "Wait, you, Robin … are getting married."
"Um, yes."
There were soon high-pitched feminine shrieks as Kara and Donna embraced their friends and gave endless streams of congratulations. Away from the chaos, Cyborg asked Raven why shouldn't didn't look the least bit happy for this.
"I am happy. Don't you know by now that this is my happy face?"
"But you've been away from Supergirl since … wait, your magic isn't hurting her, is it?"
"No, it's her mind that's toxic. I'm not reading it and I can taste the filth in my mouth."
"Filth? Supergirl? The sweet, chaste Champion of Justice?"
"Nothing chaste about her. She hasn't stopped looking through everyone's clothes since she got in, and sex is the only thing she'll think about."
"So, you hate sex?"
"No, I just find it gross."
"Yeah, well, miss gross thoughts girl is coming your way right now."
/
Beast Boy eagerly opened up his package from STAR Labs and pulled out his new costume – a red-and-white variant of his Doom Patrol outfit. Raven had to hold back her own happiness when she pulled out her new outfit and noticed the jagged edges on the cape, resembling that of Batman. But Robin was the one to get the biggest costume upgrade, ditching his old sidekick outfit entirely for one based off of the old Kryptonian legend of Nightwing.
"Well, there's one more thing I need to do," Supergirl announced. "Last night, the Starlight Runner Observatory intercepted an extraterrestrial signal. They can't translate it by any alien languages we currently know, so we were wondering if Starfire could help out."
Starfire agreed, and Supergirl inserted the flash drive in the living room computer. Starfire happily recognized the language as Tamaranean, but her smile faded away as shelistened to the words.
"Yes, this is Tamaranean! But wait, … seeking royal blood … lost our way … home destroyed?"
Suddenly desperate, Starfire asked where it had come from. Cyborg explored the files to discover that the message had originated from the outskirts of the Vega Star System … and then he found a video file.
The audio-less video was of a hand-held camera showing dozens of Tamaranean civilians fleeing onto escape ships as their city was being conquered by their old enemy the Gondorians under leadership of Red Lanterns. After the camera boarded a ship, it continued to film out the window as the evacuation went underway, showcasing the planetwide destruction. Once all of Tamaran was in view, it exploded in a blast of red light.
Starfire could do nothing but watch with shock, horror, and disbelief. When the presentation was over, her only movement was twitching in her eyes to prevent her from crying. She was soon embraced by Supergirl, hugging her tight while planting her face into her shoulder. "It's going to be OK," she whispered, speaking as the only one who knew exactly what Starfire was feeling.
Without saying a word, Starfire took Supergirl's arms off her and flew up to the roof. Robin quickly followed behind her. After getting on the roof, he found Starfire sitting on the edge with her knees underneath her chin, staring off into the ocean. She couldn't stop her mind from flashbacking to every single memory she had of her home world – playing outside, playing with Galfore, training to be a warrior, making her first friends, learning to love and look after her people, her culture, her history, her people's art and music and stories – and was continually denying that everything about where she had come from was all gone – dead and gone forever. Then she heard footsteps behind her come to a stop. She turned around and quickly embraced her fiancé, sobbing into his shoulder.
Robin desperately wanted to say something, to do something, anything, to take the grief away from the love of his life. But what could he do? Sure, he had seen his parents murdered in front of him, and seen many friends beaten and crippled and maimed, but she had just lost her entire culture. He could not even begin to fathom what that must feel like. All he could do was let her that he was there for her, and did so by hugging her back, and started to cry a bit himself.
About an hour or two later, Donna flew onto the roof to meet them. The couple were now both sitting together, neither crying, with Starfire resting her head on Robin's shoulder while he still hugged her in comfort.
"So, based on what I heard, your people need a new home, right?"
"YEs. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I know someone who can help – my dad."
Donna took out her communicator and flicked a button, showing a button of the Seal of the President of the United States.