This one was longer than I expected. Feel open to give feedback. I have already had one reader nice enough to let me know that i used the wrong robin in the first chapter _. It is fixed now. Hope you guys enjoy.
Aftershock
Starfire shifted uncomfortable in her bed. There were no dreams of flying over the beautiful jungles of Tamaran or soaking within the warm energy of the star Vega. Nor were her dreams of the gorgeous sunrises on Earth she always made time to witness every evening. Instead she was plagued by nightmares that slowly ate at her mind. After startling herself awake from her unrestful sleep for the third time in thirty minutes the orange skinned girl threw off the covers and began pacing the room. Her thoughts began replaying the events earlier that day filling her exhausted body with warm anger.
"Friends!" Starfire spit out to the empty room. "Let's just be friends for now."
X'hal! That hurt! Kori internally flinched. She knew the pain wouldn't go away fast either, she had been foolish enough to agree to his terms instead of properly severing her attachment to him altogether. Tamaraneans cannot survive such a weakening of emotion and Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran knew better than to cling to the selfish offer of just friends after giving herself so fully to what she had once believed to be love. She recalled the exact moment he told her. At first she had been shocked and overwhelmed when Richard had announced his discontent in their relationship. But that emotion quickly shifted to anger and confusion as he continued. The Bow Blunder thought that citing his 'logical reasons' as to why they should 'break-up' and see other people would put her in a more receptive state. But even if she had been a resident of this Earth for ten years and even if she could understand the words Richard was saying would sway an earthling female there was no equivalent sentiment in her own language and culture.
The people of Tamaran are proud to be in-tune with their feelings. As a result it is unheard of a couple to break up and go back to being just friends. On her world love either increased, plateaued, or shifted to an equally intense hatred. Never did love wan or die out like a candle with no wax left to burn. But these earthlings didn't understand. Kori felt her fists clench painfully as she remembered getting back to the tower.
The rest of the evening had been a haze as Kory wrapped her heads around the events that had just transpired. Richard, her boyfriend, her team leader, her mate, had just cut relations with her. Dick had offered her a ride back to the tower, only to be curtly declined. I'd rather get a ride with the slavers than have to catch a ride back with him. Her mind spewed. Instead she decided to fly back. It was a good plan until she couldn't focus on any joyful thoughts to gain the freedom of flight. So she walked instead. She walked the lonely miles back to the Tower and gave into her tears along the way.
When she took the elevator back into the tower desiring nothing more but to retreat to her hopes were dashed when the elevator opened to reveal her team mates there. Cyborg and Beastboy where around the couch, probably watching TV but now they had their attention wholly on her. She could see it in their eyes, they knew she had been tossed aside. They knew and they felt sorry for her. Her Tamaranean pride hurt. She was a Princess of her planet, no, more than that, she was a Warrior of her people and warriors are not to be pitied. She held her head high and moved with purpose to the hallway. The princess ignored her two team mates and felt relief when she made it to the darkness of the hallway.
Her relief was short lived as she was now face to face with the Tower's resident half-demon. Raven normally would move between rooms silently and without running into people and meeting her here was unusual. Kori had suspected Raven used her abilities to move unnoticed. Which would mean that Raven was now in front of her because she knew as well. The realization felt like a thousand Falgruns tore into her stomach. Starfire moved to the side to pass by the spellcaster but Raven mirrored her move.
"Kori" Raven began, her voice gentle and soft.
"I wish to go to my room, please move yourself from my path." Starfire said holding back as much emotion from her voice as she could.
Raven had not moved but Koriand'r felt a touch on her phyche. She felt soemthing was trying to soothe her emotions. The thought of having yet another person playing with her emotions that night infuriated the red haired princess.
"Stop that" Kori snarled. trying to move her way past the smaller girl.
Raven looked surprised at the outburst from the teams most bubbly member but once more she positioned herself in front of the Tamaranean. Now Raven met her eyes and attempted to lay a hand on the aliens arm. Kori saw it then, the same look in Raven's eyes that she saw in the boys earlier. The princess acted before she thought about what she was doing. She grabbed the empath and flung her to the wall and held her there. Raven hit the wall hard but did not react. Starfire's body began to shake, whether it was from anger or anguish she did not know. She lowered her head to meet the pinned girls eyes even as her own started to water.
"Do not look at me like that." Starfire warned through clenched teeth. Though quieter she added "Not from you."
And that is where she left Raven, in the hallway rubbing her shoulder gazing at the aliens back.
Starfire was brought back to the present to a sobering thought.
Had this abnormal turn in their relationship been her fault?
Richard had said no and that this kind of thing happens all the time. That thought horrified Koriand'r, how could a planet filled with life thrive if such a travesty happened all the time. Even if it was true and these things just happened she could not stop the doubt that this breakup had to be her fault. She should have realized that Earthlings had different standards and ways of handling emotions before she got involved with one. Kori caught her reflection on the large window of her room. She found herself smirking in a mirthless parody of a smile, Koriand'r knew that was a foolish wish. Logic does not dictate a Tamaranean's heart. Besides, she had liked the young masked hero who seemed to return her affections when they had first met all those years ago.
The anger that had been infusing the alien with warmth and restless energy had started to drain. With the absence of that familiar companion she felt herself begin to be consumed by disbelief and grief. The princess let out a blood rage war cry and launched her fists into the steel beam supporting the west wall of her room over and over again while letting out a continuous litany of curse words in her native language. The tempered steel beneath her knuckles rang out with each blow until it finally buckled, breaking with a mighty burst of plasma green light, rocketing the piece of metal a few hundred meters out to the ocean surrounding her home.
"How dare he suggest we 'see other people'!" She yelled.
With her energy drained from the torrent of emotions Kori slid down onto her haunches gazing out the hole she made focusing on nothing and asking.
"Was I not good enough...?"
The anguish in her whisper was unexpectedly answered by a rough voice from near her door that hissed out a denial to that statement.
"No. That thought should never enter your mind Koriand'r. You are everything that any being would be blessed to have as a partner, and the indecision of one human who does not know what he wants in life should not be cause for such pain."
Raven rested a light hand upon the exposed shoulder of her friend, keeping her eyes on the night horizon with Koriand'r.
"But it does hurt Raven. I just... I do not understand how Earthlings could live with something as horrible as this... this feeling of being found lacking when they should celebrate in the feelings of love they profess to have for one another." Starfire confessed.
Raven closed her eyes to reorient herself after brushing against Koriand'r's emotional pain again, Raven gently squeezed the golden-orange shoulder hopefully offering some stability to the saddened girl. Raven's empathic abilities where being seared by the intensity of despair coming from Kori but she refused to abandon her friend for something as trivial as her own comfort
"To tell you the truth Koriand'r, I do not understand it either. I, too, was not raised in this culture and find myself more than a little...disgusted that so many throw love around so casually. Especially when I... I am not allowed to be anything but strict with all emotions."
Gently kneeling beside the redhead, Raven trailed her fingers down the alien's bare arm. Once her fingers traced the orange tinted skin the full length she wrapped her pale arm around the golden one, yet she still was not able to urge her friend into motion.
"Even..." Raven began to speak again.
Koriand'r still stuck in her own mind watched the girl in her peripheral vision. The Tamaranean saw that Raven seemed to struggle with her words. A scene that she had never before seen. Raven usually pulsed with a cool calm and her dry wit and sarcasm where legendary in the tower. But seeing her now she say simply a young woman exposing herself to a trusted friend. That thought sparked emotions she had thought forgotten in her hurt state. Starfire felt an overwhelming need to give this wonderful friend of hers encouragement. She wasted no time and found Ravens fingers in their intertwined arms. She curled her slender fingers, interlacing them with Ravens and held onto the smaller hand that welcomed the gesture. Starfire found her eyes lingering on their hands for few seconds before looking back up at the empath thinking that it was odd how much reassurance she felt from this simple gesture.
Raven breathed deeply feeling the calming energy that Kori was trying to send to her and she drank it up. Releasing the breath she set her mind to tell her companion about her true self. The dark haired girl had not revealed anything regarding her demonic heritage to anyone by choice. But here she was about to tell one of the very few people who she could not bear to lose about some of the more unpleasant aspects to Kori. Not just because she wanted Koriand'r to put this pain behind he, but because deep down Raven wanted her to know more about herself.
"Even demons do not face a fading of emotional intensity as Earthlings seem to do. Admittedly, not much truly interests a demon. But once a strong emotion is associated with an object or person by the demon, it never vanishes. In fact, there are some cases where the emotion can get so powerful it consumes the demon who harbors it."
The moment Raven mentioned her demonic half she had Koriand'r's attention. The alien female knew little about her fellow heroine and always wished to find ways to grow closer to the reclusive woman. Raven's words of having her own difficulty in understanding the fickle nature of human love was the final act to that settled the searingly hot anger that was hiding under the surface. The confusion, sadness, and frustration with the foreign situation on the other hand she had accepted would linger for a while longer.
"So demons are also ruled by their emotions?" Starfire asked.
"Yes and no. Until that one desire appears to trigger the consuming emotions within the demon, they are normally very logical creatures, who are known to be cunning and manipulative." Raven said with a shrug.
"Hmm...Could you give me an example Raven?" Starfire asked still seeming a little confused.
Starfire had finally turned in her spot on the floor to face her the pale girl making sure to keep their hands interlocked. Raven met the alien's inquisitive green eyes and nodded.
"Since we were discussing love earlier, I will use that and myself as part of the example." Raven began but was interrupted by a giggle that escaped from Koriand'r. Raven caught the sheepish look on the princess with with a knowing stare.
"Hey, it could happen...in another lifetime." Raven said with a ghost of a smile on her face.
The empath felt content as Koriand'r began to laugh at her bad joke. The princess was beginning to smile again which meant that their odd lives were now returning to what passed as normal around
"Say I fell in love despite my best efforts to resist. Now, let's say this emotion triggers my demonic interest. You would all quickly notice my odd behavior which might include possessiveness, jealousy, inexplicable happiness while in the presence of the focus of my love, and a myriad of other intense emotional reactions that involving this person." Raven explained.
Koriand'r's smile grew through the lesson but it faded when Raven informed her that there was a best and worst case scenario in having her demonic side become attached to someone.
"In the best case, the person returns my 'affections' and my emotions would settle... somewhat... But they would remain extremely intense, overcoming much of my better judgment and may even lead to feeling the need to destroy anything I might perceive as a threat to our relationship. The person on the receiving end of my 'love' would be burdened with the task of allaying any insecurities and fears I would feel about the relationship. They would have to shower me with a continuous reassurance of love, desire, and... lust in order to 'tame' my less than civil half." Raven said.
Koriand'r lifted an eyebrow at the definition for a 'best case scenario' but said nothing. Such a bond is exactly how all Tamaraneans viewed love; a continual bond with constant reassurance of affection from both sides to balance out the intensity of emotion. Kori had to admit that she felt a warm glow infuse her blood at Raven's description of the depth of dependence and love as the Princess had been craving for just that as long as she could remember.
"In the worst case scenario". Raven Continued. "The person would reject me. Demons do not handle rejection well. I would most likely lose my human self entirely to the demonic beast and set about obliterating everything, except my 'love'."
Ducking her head in shame and disgust Raven found that she no longer wanted the gentle warrior princess to know about what she was capable of doing should the demon ever be loosed upon the world. But Koriand'r needed to know as that knowledge could save her someday.
"That person would be spared... somewhat. Even though I had been refused I would not be able to stay away from that person. I imagine I would forcefully keep them with me alternating between punishing them...and loving them. Never letting go no matter what." Raven finished hesitantly.
Feeling ashamed of revealing such monstrous tendencies and afraid that Koriand'r would not like her anymore Raven tried to slip her hand from the alien's and retreat. But Koriand'r was having none of that. Holding tightly to those cold fingers Kori leaned down slightly and rested her cheek against Raven's pitch black hair.
"Well, other than the destroying or forcing part, that is very similar to the Tamaranean experience of love. Remember when I told you about my people and culture after we defeated the Puppet King? You spoke about Azarath and what their customs as well. Now I've learned something more and I cannot express how honored I am that you would reveal so much to me. I know it was not easy." Starfire said. "Especially after the hallway earlier..."
Sensing the fleeting whispers of shame from the taller girl, Raven sent out a wave of calm to sooth away the burn.
"There is nothing to thank me for Koriand'r. Isn't this how friends are supposed to behave? And what happened was my fault. I pried where I should not have and I apologize for my intrusion. But please know I was not pitying you. I just felt your sadness and it made me want to do whatever I can to help alleviate it." The empath explained.
Raven was not ready for sudden flood of overwhelming fondness that bombarded her senses, nor the two warm arms that snugly wrapped around her shoulders and waist. She was positive that if not for the muscular limbs enveloping her she wouldn't be able to stand from the overwhelming sensations.
"Then I accept your apology if you accept mine for acting as I did and causing you pain." Starfire negotiated.
Raven was not sure that she could do anything other than nod and shyly return the embrace. The two friends stayed together for the rest of the night. They passed the time by talking, silently watching the stars move, and dreaming of whats to come. They kept each other company well into the morning as the pearly gray of dawn began illuminating the sky for another day
Infused with the empowering energy of the rising sun, Koriand'r woke from a light sleep snug against Raven's shoulder. She tried to silently get to her feet to stretch out some sore joints from the odd sleeping position. Kori caught a sight of the pale skinned caster just as she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the light of the morning seeping into the room from hole in wall danced over the empaths form and Kori felt a surge of affection rise in her. The redhead knew that it was her friend who kept the nightmares and dreams at bay, allowing what little sleep she got to be deep and restful helping to recover her strength. Coming out of her stretch Koriand'r noticed Raven's eyes darting around the room looking at everything but the alien before settling on her own pale hands that lay in her lap. The empath's cheeks were coloured a little pinker than usual making Kori feel slightly bemused but deciding not to worry about Raven's behavior. Kori extended a hand to pull the seated woman up.
"We had better get ready for today. Our fellow titans are due to start arriving today and we have that interview for the magazine to make 'let the people know how normal we are'." Alien Warrior Princess quoted with an amused tone.
Scowling, Raven rolled her eyes as she let Kori lift her off the floor thankful that the taller girl's strength easily held her.
"As if I could forget, or better yet, not attend." Raven remarked.
The resident sorceress really disliked the yearly ritual all the active Teen Titans had to go through and had no qualms about voicing her opinion of it. Koriand'r just giggled as she escorted her guest to the door. Raven paused for just a moment to make sure the coast was clear with her empathic sense. Assured that there was no one close she turned back to face Koriand'r and softly asked if she was feeling less upset now. The smaller woman was awarded with a quick hug and a thanks that brimmed with hope.
"Good. Then I will see you later this morning. Oh, and if you...want to talk again..." Raven said, her voice trailing off.
Smiling, Kori just nodded her head in understanding. Then a mischievous gleam entered her eyes and her grin became a bit wicked.
"I do have one quick question Raven." Starfire prompted.
Leaning back into the princess's room with half of her body already out the door, Raven just waited with her hand braced on the door frame, holding the sliding door open.
Starfires grin became predatory as she asked "Since demons are similar to my people in love, do demons also boast to have as much stamina in bed as Tamaraneans do?"
Raven's hand slipped and she almost bashed her head into the door frame before she caught herself. The usual quick wit of the empath's was delayed from the massive amounts of blushing and surprise coursing through her system. Raven was taken off guard by Koriand'r's question, never having thought Kori could tease so aggressively. The aliens wide green eyes and dazzling, if saucy, smile didn't help things either, causing a rampage of butterflies to take flight low in Raven's abdomen. Luckily Raven was eventually able to regroup and sent Koriand'r a deadpan stare before answering and disappearing back to her own room.
"If not more, Koriand'r."
Raven's response was unexpected but brimmed with the playful spirit of Koriand'r's question, and it tickled her funny bone for the rest of the day, keeping her in a good mood and Raven a little pinker in the cheeks than usual.
