In Captive I did a review response chapter at the end, but that was really boring to write, so I'm going to do it chapter-by-chapter in this fic. Anyway, I might update slower than I did for Captive, but it will still be pretty fast. After all, I wrote Captive in about a month. That was really fast, especially for twenty nice and long chapters.
I'll put my review responses at the end of this chapter, but first I'd like to tell you all how great this story is going to be! Yesterday I had a bunch of cool ideas pop into my head, and now I'm sure it's going to be a major blast! (Well, that sounded really lame, but whatever.)
So, how are you guys liking the new rebel Star's sister? They don't really seem to have anything in common with each other, do they? But I'll tell you right now, just so you don't panic – Blazefire is totally for real. She's not going to betray them, or anything, like Terra did. Right now (as in as of now) she doesn't even care about being a Titan.
Dedication: To Pookey, because you were the first person to review my newest story! Thanks a bunch!
Disclaimer: IDOTT. I'd say I owned Blaze and Melanie and Philip and RC and all them, but technically you can't own people. So if that's true, the only things I own are the stuff in my room.
Chapter Two: A Blaze of Power and Emotions
The Tower:
"Are you guys sure about this?" Cyborg asked worriedly, waiting anxiously yet fearfully for the return of the rebellious Blazefire. "I mean, we barely know her. Star doesn't even remember her. She may really be her sister, but you saw her language back there. Who knows what she's been through? Sometimes being through tragic moments causes a person to go evil, even if they were once good of heart."
"And sometimes the good heart is still there," Starfire explained, an unseen charm and greater purity than usual in her innocent voice. "Blazefire obviously did experience tragic moments with my parents. But even if she is evil now, being with people who love her can mend her broken heart."
Robin was taken aback by these sage words. "She's right," he said with a nod. "Even if she's working for Slade – er, Batman – right now, we can still help her. We can make her betray the enemy and help her new friends."
"She's not working for Slade," Raven promised. "When terra was, I sensed him in her. I can't say I sensed innocence in Blazefire, but there wasn't a hint of Batman or Slade."
"Aren't those the losers you want me to kill?" Blazefire asked brightly, flying back from her house. She was wearing the same type of outfit Starfire had, but it was still different. Instead of the armor and royal stone at the top of her shirt, it was a belt on her pants. They were stretchy and long, and they flared as bell-bottoms on the ends. She had on a top that resembled Starfire's, but it showed much less of her navel.
'Why couldn't she be wearing Star's sports-bra type outfit?' Cyborg found himself silently wondering. 'It'd look great on her, with those big-'
Whoa! He thought immediately, jerking back for a moment. What the hell am I talking about? Blazefire? As if! I'm the leader now! I can't be having any dirty thoughts! Besides, Star's rebel sister? I don't think so.
"Sister," Starfire said in surprise, ignoring the strange attitude from Cyborg. "I am surprised. Why do you not wear the customary Tamaranian purple women's clothing?"
She shrugged. "I dyed all my outfits pink when I left," she explained. "And I changed them to slacks and a scoop shirt so people wouldn't think I was from Tamaran." She winced, realizing the stupidity of her last words. "Well, people don't really know about Tamaran, but you know…"
Starfire looked at her sister's outfit in amazement. "Yes, but why does your royal stone have the Centauri moon diamond upon it? Mine is the Tamaranian royal symbol, as is our sister, Blackfire's," she explained.
Blazefire shrugged again. "Well, when I was on Tamaran…"
As she paused, Starfire playfully urged her on. "Please," she said with an encouraging smile. "Tell us of your Centauri adventures!"
"I didn't go there," she said quickly. "They would never let me anywhere after I tried to kill my nursemaid." She blushed as the male Titans laughed out loud. The females – besides Melanie, who giggled furiously – tried to suppress their chuckles. "It sounds dumb," she agreed, "but it's not. She was whipping me like crazy!"
"Please," Starfire said, a smile still clear on her face, "continue."
"Yeah. So anyway, there was this guy. I mean, I was about nine when I tried to kill my nursemaid, but I still had a boyfriend. Well, not really a boyfriend, but a guy-friend. Anyway, so he felt sorry for me, and he went and got me this. When our parents punished me by taking away my royal crest, I just stuffed this where the old one was."
"You had a boyfriend when you were nine?" Raven asked, her violet eyes dancing with humor and some sort of jealousy. She hadn't discovered the wonders of love until recently. "You sure do get around, you know."
Blazefire blushed. "No, he wasn't my boyfriend. He was just a guy, and he was my friend. But there wasn't anything there."
Starfire couldn't help but notice the regret in her sister's voice. Understanding the stress of not telling your love that you love them, she inquired timidly, "But perhaps you wish something was there?" Her emerald eyes sparkled with understanding.
"Well," she said uncomfortably, "I didn't really think of him when I left. I mean, I missed him as a friend, but I never thought there was anything more. We weren't even that close, but he was the only one who didn't completely fear me." She let out a strangled laugh. "Probably because he was too stubborn to believe anyone was better than him."
"Well, what happened after you left?" Cyborg asked, surprised at his spark of interest in the subject. Why did he give a care in the world?
"I came here," she explained. "And I started living a normal life. I met some twisted people, but then I came to Jump City, and it's pretty safe here."
"What do you mean by 'twisted?'" Starfire asked easily, not suspecting a thing.
"You don't want to know," Raven and Blazefire said at the same time. Robin nodded as well, hoping Blazefire wouldn't bring it up again after this. Not in front of his Star.
"Very well," she said uncaringly. "Please continue."
"So then I met Dean, my boyfriend."
"The one that lives in Florida," Cyborg said just to be sure.
"Yes, the one that lives in Florida."
"The one that you're cheating on," Cyborg continued with a prying grin.
"Not yet," she countered hotly. "Anyway, so one day I was at my friend's school dance. Her name was Hannah, and she was going with her boyfriend while I was going with mine. So when we were there, we snuck into the gym and pulled a Seven Minutes in Heaven."
"Why does everything that has to do with you end up inappropriate and PG-13?" Beastboy asked with a snort.
Ignoring him and Starfire's clueless look, she continued, "But then Rhustin came. He's the guy from Tamaran. He saw me with Dean, and he got way mad." She grinned at the thought. "He punched him and everything, and they got into a big fistfight."
"This does have a happy ending, does it not?" Starfire asked hopefully.
"Um," Blazefire said in surprise. "Not exactly." She laughed. "Come on. You saw me. This is my life we're talking about. I hate everyone, yet I'm popular and I have a hot boyfriend. I hate the public, yet I follow the regular trends." She shrugged. "How can a girl like me ever have a happy ending?" she asked wistfully.
"Someday you will," Starfire promised.
"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "Just save it. Anyway, after the fistfight, I broke up with Dean. I thought I could be back with Rhustin. He's not exactly an Earth hunk, but he's less hard on the eyes than even your good buddy," she said with a grin to Starfire.
"Um," Starfire said awkwardly. "I suppose that means he has good looks?"
"You better believe it," she said with a dreamy look in her silver eyes. "Anyway, when I told him I was open for relationship, he looked at me like I was crazy. Then he told me to meet him at the town clock at midnight."
"And you came," Raven snorted. "I know he didn't come. It's written clearly on your face."
"He didn't come," she agreed sadly. "He left a note in the balcony, though." She shook her head, taking out a crumpled sheet of paper from her pocket. "I've kept it with me forever. Then I knew that if he ever came back, I could force it into his face and make him feel guilty." She uncrumpled it and showed it to the other Titans.
Dear Lana,
I believe that is what your new Earthling name is. There are many things I do not understand in this world, but one of them is the kind of thing you were doing with the man called Dean. I am sorry if there was any misunderstanding. It appeared that he was harassing you, and my only wish was for your protection. You appeared grateful.
However, when I spoke to you again the second time, you told me that that was what people on Earth do. Then I asked why you were grateful for me stopping the general flow of relationship. Your response, which we both know, shocked me. I am sorry if any kind of feelings were hurt, but I would sooner die than manipulate a fine woman such as yourself. However, you needed to know that I was in a relationship and I could not enter another one. Please forgive me if you were hurt in any way.
Lastly, I wish to attain our friendship even through our downpours in romantic relationship. I am sorry I never realized your feelings for me sooner – I might have perhaps returned you ardor then. But now I am in a new relationship, and I cannot give it up. Forgive me for insulting you, but Lady Alexandria is a far more respectable maiden then yourself, the rebel Princess. Being a respectable man, I assume you understand my decision.
Sincerely,
Rhustin Sheerwood
Starfire shook her head sadly when she saw it. Robin almost laughed at the fact that Rhustin thought Dean was harassing her. Raven felt lucky that she had someone who returned her feelings. Cyborg felt ultimately sorry for Blazefire. Melanie gasped as she read it, and then grinned at Blazefire. "Honestly, sister," she said with a grin. "He speaks more properly than Star. He sounds lame. You don't need him. What you need is a real boyfriend."
"That's why I asked," she explained. "Dean agreed to get back together with me if we took it slowly, but I'm not ready to be in a relationship with him again. I need someone clean. A brand new guy who won't even know about Rhustin, if possible."
Melanie nodded. "I don't know… Jake sounds a lot like Dean." She shrugged. "In fact, I'm guessing Dean's tall, with dark eyes and a sweet six-pack but nothing here or here?" As she said 'here or here,' she pointed to her heart, then her brain.
"I'm sure they have something there," Blaze replied. "But he sounds like what I want. I don't want someone who's smart enough to know the complications of my life. I just want a boyfriend because they act like they care, even if they don't."
"So you want a mindless boyfriend?" Starfire asked, her eyes wide.
"It's complicated," Blazefire replied, "but yes. Now, can we go train?"
"Um, sure," Robin agreed. "Follow me."
As they left, Cyborg was dumbfounded. The kind of guy like Jake or Dean would ruin Blaze's already hopeless life. He felt that, for once in his life, he was needed to bring change to something different. He didn't have to kill anything. He just needed to bring back the spirit that he knew still lived in her. He could see it dancing around in her beautiful silvery eyes every second.
The Training Field:
"Blazefire, you first. I want to see what you've got. Get through this to the other end as soon as you can, got it? The record is Star's. She got two minutes five seconds on this baby. None of us got below three minutes besides Robin. He got two forty." Cyborg grinned, glad to give her a challenge.
She eyed the track in disbelief. "Um, you're kidding me, right?"
"I know it looks hard, but it's easy, I promise. You won't get more than five minutes, I bet," he said encouragingly.
"That's not what I meant," she said with a shrug. "No offense, but this is way easy. I mean, sorry if you guys couldn't get it, but…"
"Easy?" Beastboy choked. "Try it."
"Okay," she said easily. "Stand back."
They nodded and crowded into the scoring area. Cyborg counted her off, and then started the time. Immediately she went to work.
Not that it was much work for her.
Blazefire closed her eyes and a huge blast of silver energy covered the training grounds. When the silver blast cleared, every obstacle in the field had disintegrated. She easily flew over to the finish line at about three hundred miles per hour, and reached her goal with a grand total of eight seconds. She hadn't even broken a sweat.
For about ten minutes, everyone just stood there, staring at her. She blushed furiously. "Um," she said after what seemed like ages. "Don't feel bad, or anything. I just, um, had a lot of practice on my sister and my maid and stuff…"
"No wonder you almost killed Sister Blackfire!" Starfire exclaimed. "It would be easy for someone with your fabulous powers!"
She blushed harder. "Thanks," she said awkwardly. "So, do you guys have anything harder to attack on, or should I just wait until tomorrow?"
Just as she said this, the alarms rang. "It's Slade," Cyborg confirmed after checking the monitors. "He is having a conference with…" his eyes widened.
"Who?" they all demanded.
"…Red X," he finished slowly. "But that's not all. They're coming here-"
Just as he was saying this, Red X leaped up behind them. Before he attacked, he grabbed Star and said with a grin, "As much as I'd love to take you, beautiful, I'm not going to play Rough Coyote today." With that, he spun around, grabbed Melanie, and left, eyeing Starfire and Blazefire interestedly as he did so.
"Who's the new girl?" he asked Slade as he knocked out Melanie and handed her to him.
"A girl with incredible powers," he said with grinning, narrowed eyes. "A girl who shouldn't be with the Teen Titans."
Me:
So, chapter two is up! I'm a little disappointed that only two of you reviewed, but I'll learn to deal. As long as my other reviewers start reviewing again soon! Normally I'd be way mad, but I told you to wait until around Christmas time, and it's only like the thirteenth or something, so I didn't expect everyone to find out. Still, if you are reading this and not reviewing, FEEL GUILTY!
REVIEW!!!
Responses:
Pookey: I know, right? So much love! Lol, thanks a bunch!
Warprince2000: Danke! (That means thanks in German, I'm taking it this year.)
Sneak Peak for Chapter Three:
"You can't make me bring someone back to life," Melanie declared, struggling for all she was worth to get away from them.
"Yes, we can. If you don't let us, then you can say good-bye to your dear little friends, the Teen Titans. With a single phone call, I can convince them that you're on our side now," Slade explained. "Now, I'd like you to bring back a young man by the name of Philip…"
Ha! Ha, I am so evil! And you guys remember what Melanie can do, right? She can give people their greatest wish when they come back to life! You know what that means, right? Cliffy, I know. But I do what I must!
Sincerely (take-off from Rhustin's letter),
Kweenie
PS: Sorry if you don't like long chapters! That one had to be long!
