Chapter 2
[Back at the Ocean]

Edward and Raven were getting some sun that afternoon, just enjoying each other's company some more and hoping, at least in the back of their minds, that the day wouldn't get any more eventful than it was already. Edward was actually getting annoyed at the interruptions to their first day outside of the room.

But, as he relaxed, allowing his skin to tan slowly (His immortality would heal sunburns, but, suntans wouldn't just fade away.)

He was a little worried about Raven's skin, though. She really didn't spend that much time in the sun and already she had spent a lot more time soaking the rays than usual.

He glanced over and saw that she was getting a little red underneath her normal hue. It wasn't enough to be overly concerned, but, he'd keep an eye on her, just in case.

However, she turned over to give her front side some sunlight a moment later as she noticed Edward's concerned state.

"It's all right, hon," she said, "I was about to turn over anyway."

"I'm not overly concerned, Rae," he said, "That bothers me is that we're supposed to be on a honeymoon/vacation and we're still having to help people. I don't mind the last two, though, as lives were in danger, but, I think that's all we need to be concerned about. The locals can handle the routine stuff."

"That's true," she commented, "But, I know you well enough that you can't stand idly by if something is happening right in front of us. The team's known that from the day we met you."

She was referring to the bank robbery that the team responded to at the same time that Edward was there. He helped the team take down the robbers, who ended up getting 15 years for armed robbery, false imprisonment and felons in possession of guns. The Feds tacked on a decade for Bank Robbery, to be served concurrent to their state level charges.

That, of course, changed the entire team makeup within 24 hours. Edward was invited to be a member; Terra was rescued from her fate worse than death, etc.

"That's part of who I am, Rae," Edward said, "Damn straight I'm not going to sit by and let something happen, vacation or not."

"We're here to relax, though," Raven reminded him, "You're been borderline burnt out for the last few months, ever since we got back from Tamaran. Everyone's noticed it. Even David's mentioned it."

Edward sighed, "I know. I was hoping when I moved to Jump City that I could take a breather. That certainly didn't happen, though. But, I wouldn't change anything for the world. David means well, though. Paula and I taught him that it was OK to let us know if we were getting burnt out."

"Look around us, my love," Raven said, sitting up, "We're in an awesome hotel on the beach, all expenses paid. The water's nice and warm, and, we're climbing Kokohead tomorrow and touring the volcanoes day after that."

"Mind if I ask you something?" Edward asked.

"You're my husband," Raven replied, "Ask away."

"What happened to the gal that the Titans said always stayed in her room, preferred horror flicks and other dark and gloomy stuff?" Edward said with a smile.

"You mean the one that Beast Boy admitted was creepy? You mean the one who actually liked when Johnny Rancid turned the city into a dark and gloomy place?" Raven said softly, "After Father was banished, things started to change. I could feel more without my powers causing things to explode unless I really lost control, you've seen that. But, I think it was you who convinced me that I should try to like brighter things, like the white uniform over the violet one. You're the most mature one out of the group by default and while Garfield actually had his charms and a massive crush on me, I grew tired of it and resolved not to return anything more than friendship. You've told jokes and played pranks that were more to teach a lesson without actually harming the team. That helped the team mature more."

"I still laugh at the ones we put BB through," Edward said, "It beats what Nightwing would have had to do. Garfield thinks of the team the way I do: You're family to me. I'd rather prank someone to drive home a lesson when I consider them to be part of my extended family. That's why I pranked Cyborg as well, but, then, he humiliated Terra. Each time, it was to teach a lesson or a combination of a lesson and actual punishment, like Beast Boy.

"Nightwing would have had to throw BB off the team otherwise. That would have crushed him flatter than me stepping on a car by accident in Dragon form."

"I know," Raven said, "I sensed he was pretty mad that night, but, trusted you to handle the problem. Beast Boy did a lot of maturing that night. Then, Terra's been as big of an influence to him as he's been to her.

"I still sometimes wonder if he and I would have developed a relationship."

Edward's eyes flashed yellow for a heartbeat and he said, "From what I heard, you and he were in a more love-hate relationship and bickering at times. But, that's normal behavior for folks in close quarters.

"Not that it matters, though."

Raven sensed she had struck a nerve, though.

"You OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said, "Just annoyed over things happening today. I should be used to this, though."

"Rescuing people?" Raven asked.

"Yeah," Edward said.

"What can I say?" Raven asked, "You've been doing it for a long time, right?"

"Well, since 1750 to a very limited effort," Edward explained, "Then in 1889, my unlucky ass was caught in the Johnstown Flood and forced me to reveal myself. Several rich men after that found out the hard way not to piss me off. It took me destroying a steel mill to get their undivided attention and to make proper reparations.

"Then, in 1906, I was caught in the first big San Fran earthquake and had to rescue a lot of people and fight the fires as well.

"I was also on Titanic when she went down. At least with that one, I was able to save a lot of passengers who would have otherwise died."

"How did you manage that feat?" Raven asked.

"You didn't read the stories?" Edward replied.

"No, I knew that ship sank, but, that you saved a lot of the passengers," Raven said.

Edward said, "Well, the short version is that I had been concerned with the lack of lifeboats and was hoping that there wouldn't be a reason to evacuate the ship.

"As fate would have it, we hit an iceberg and started taking on water. The Californian was waiting till morning to get through the ice field, until they saw me in my larger Dragon form rallying them into action. I blasted the icebergs that were in the way with the lightning breath or melted the flat ice with the flame breath.

"Once that ship was close enough, they started transferring people. I went through the Titanic and started getting the people below decks topside. A steward thought he'd give me backtalk about the LOCKED gates, which I proceeded to rip apart. The steward was told to get the keys and start unlocking and when he went way too slow, the lightning bolt to the rear end changed his mind.

"I also used some stalling tactics to keep her afloat a little longer by freezing the same iceberg that killed the ship to the hull, using it's buoyancy to counteract the steel wanting to sink.

"That turned out to only buy only about 30 minutes, though. But, it was enough. The passengers and crew were able, at the last minute, to jump onto my wings and back for a quick swim over to the other ship. Others were, well, stuck on my back and extended wings long after the ship sank.

"The Carpathia arrived a few hours later and they were able to help split the load as well.

"People have told me that had I not been there, a lot of people would have died. I know that a handful of people were killed, but, that was before anyone, myself included, knew the extant of the damage."

Raven was listening to Edward telling his backstory, at least part of his story. She knew that if he were to tell her everything that happened in the last 3,000 years, she'd be an old Raven instead of being 20.

"Sweetheart," she said, "How did you manage to avoid detection for so long?"

"It was tough," he admitted, "In Europe; it was difficult as there wasn't as much land and I'd settle in a village for a while and not being able to react to threats for fear of lapsing and morphing into something else.

"Like I said when Terra was giving us her background, had the religious leaders at the time been more open minded, I might have been more willing to show people who I really am.

"So, I would be able to stay in an area for a few years and adopt different names. But, the most I could stay was maybe a decade to 15 years, but, with my lack of aging, people would start to notice the lack of graying hair or the lack of wrinkles after a while.

"Other times, I would be a wanderer, living off the land. I used to be a good hunter and trapper and that would give me a basis for trade. Obviously, don't tell Beast Boy that. I'd never hear the end of it!"

Raven chuckled softly at that one, picturing Beast Boy harassing Edward about his hunting the animals until Edward got fed up and teleported Beast Boy a distance away from the Tower, just to get some peace.

"It was difficult, though," he continued, "By the early 1700s, I was at my wit's end. Sure, I had moved to the New World by then, but, I really wanted to let loose and be myself. But, I also saw things that would make Trigon pale in comparison. We're come so far in being civilized, even in the last 200 years.

"For example, do you know how people were executed at one time? It was something straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street in terms of horror or Halloween.

"I saw a brave Scotsman in the early 1300s brutally tortured for the crime of Treason. He was hung from the neck, only to be released before he would have died; he was almost pulled apart by his limbs. Then, he was gutted like a fish, his entrails cremated before his eyes, then, his genitals were sliced off. After all that, then, they ended his agony by beheading him. But, they weren't done. His head was put on a pike to rot on London Bridge, his arms and legs were removed and sent to the four corners of the kingdom as a stark warning of the penalty for High Treason. I was so sickened by that, I left England for a long time."

Raven paled and said, "Ew!"

"Oh, humanity had its gruesome period, that's for sure. In many ways, we still do. Look at war, for example. Sure, it's not cannonballs and bayonets. It's missiles, bombs delivered by stealth aircraft or drones, and other things that take the 'horror' out of war. If you can't see the enemy's face, you have fewer problems fragmenting that person.

"Even now, when I have to fight, I have to get physical and close enough to see who I'm fighting. Rarely did I have to do the 'King Ghidrah' trick and bombard from the air, unless it was wartime and I was protecting the Allied troops, then, as you read in history books, I would use an air attack. Outside of war, no, I prefer to face my opponent whenever possible. It's more honorable for me to at least give my opponent the ability to fight me in hand to hand combat."

Raven's gaze, however, had been diverted. Edward followed her line of sight and said, "Come on! The lifeguards and Coast Guard won't get there in time."

They had seen an aircraft in trouble and heading for the ocean.

Edward morphed to mini-Dragon and took to the air, knowing Raven could catch up and land on his back. He heard the folks on the beach reacting to his takeoff with surprise and alarm. Not because of Edward or Raven, but, they could also see the airliner in distress.

Edward poured on the speed, streamlining his form by withdrawing his ridges and reducing the size of his limbs to reduce resistance, but, it looked like it might not be enough.

[Teleporting!] He called out to Raven.

There was a flash of blue light as Edward teleported to the stricken plane.

[Crap! It's got one engine on fire,] Edward relayed as he settled underneath the plane and started to use the ice breath to put out the fire. But, he was also aware how close the ocean was. He couldn't teleport the plane, it was too large for that and Raven couldn't teleport it either without overtaxing her powers. But, combined, they could bring the plane in to a safe splashdown.

[Use your powers to flatten the waves out, honey,] Edward said, [I can't teleport this much mass.]

A moment later a long strip of ebon black was in front of the plane, smoothing the water out.

As the plane got closer to the water, Edward said as loudly as he could, "Everyone on board…BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!"

The plane and Edward impacted Raven's temporary runway. However, Raven played it smart and allowed her powers to sink beneath the water as the plane slowed to a stop.

The one engine was still flaming…Until a large dragon tail hit the water, creating an equally large splash that doused most of the fire.

Edward enlarged to his rarely seen full size and got under the plane.

"Captain, if possible," Edward called out, "Please lower your landing gear and apply the parking brake." He had twisted his neck up and out of the water to talk, obviously.

The landing gear actually had enough power to lower and those settled onto Edward's back in short order.

The emergency doors opened allowing the emergency chutes to deploy and the passengers started hitting the slides, now more life rafts than anything else. Others stood on the aircraft wings to await rescue.

"Don't worry if you end up taking a swim, folks," Edward said, "the water is warm and my wings are extended under water as well. Please follow the instructions of the flight crew as well."

Raven landed on one of the wings and was helping passengers out of the aircraft. Also, Edward was happy to see a flotilla of boats heading their way. Every lifeguard boat, people with jet-skis, anyone with a watercraft capable of ferrying people ashore was pressed into service. Edward saw the inevitable news choppers and police choppers arriving as well. Edward rolled his now huge eyes at that.

"Raven, dear?" Edward asked, "Would you help make sure that everyone's out of the craft?"

"Of course," she responded. Edward couldn't see it, but, she was smiling. Her empathic senses didn't detect anyone in the plane, but, she walked in through the water that had gotten in and didn't see anyone.

"Thank you," the captain said, "I think that's everyone."

"You're welcome," Raven replied.

"I heard about your recent wedding," the captain said, "I think I can arrange with my employer to take you and your husband anywhere you'd like to go."

"Edward and I can teleport or fly," Raven said, "But, we'll keep that in mind anyway."

"Edward's holding the plane afloat?" The captain said as they walked onto the wing.

"Look for yourself," Raven said. The captain looked down and then the length of his airplane to see how large Edward really is.

Edward twisted his serpentine neck to look at his wife and the plane's now former commander.

"Hello, Captain," he greeted albeit softly. At his current size, his "normal" speaking voice would be quite loud to human ears.

"Hello, Edward," the captain said, "Thank you for helping."

"Not a problem, sir," he replied, "It's what I do."

"You've interrupted your honeymoon, and, for that I am truly sorry," the captain said.

"Captain, with respect, chill," Edward gently admonished, "You had no idea my new wife and I were here and, it wasn't your fault the engine there caught fire. It's all right."

"You're right," the captain said, "How will we salvage the plane?"

"I can't let it sink here, that's for sure," Edward said.

"I closed the emergency doors, the plane should float for a while longer," the pilot said.

"I'd think these folks would want their luggage though," Edward said, "I can carry it to shore easily enough. Will the lowered gear present a flooding problem?"

"They might, but, if we can get the plane to dry land, it'll drain," the pilot said.

Edward looked up and smiled as the first of the rescue craft arrived. Those craft started to gather up the passengers and crew. After about 30 minutes, there were only a few left as Raven was also teleporting people back to the shore. That meant that Edward could start to move the plane to shore as well.

[Rae, please let the local officials know that I am bringing the plane ashore,] Edward requested telepathically.

[Will do, sweetheart,] she said.

As the plane weighed a good 30 tons, Edward had settled into the sand and had to pry his feet loose first before moving forward.

As he walked and the weight of the plane got greater, folks could see he was starting to strain a bit. He feared that the cargo holds had flooded and, well, they had partially filled due to the landing gear being down.

It took about 15 minutes to get to the point where Edward had to shrink his size a bit to come onshore.

[You OK?] Raven asked.

[You try moving a plane that's half full of water,] Edward groused.

The underside of the plane became covered in Raven's powers and the load got a little lighter.

[Careful, honey,] Edward cautioned, [If you feel this is too much, stop.]

Edward was grateful for the help, that's why he didn't object to Raven helping.

With them sharing the load, they got the plane onshore quicker and Edward set the plane down where it wouldn't roll back into the surf. Water poured from the wheel wells as Edward returned to his human form…and promptly collapsed for a few moments.

Raven ran over and said, "Easy, hon. I'll get you up to the suite."

"Teleport," he said, "I don't want the media knowing where we're at."

Raven looked at the growing crowd and said, "Hold on." She covered them both in her powers and teleported to their suite.

She made Edward at least sit down while she turned on the TV.

"…At this time, we do not know where Edward and Raven went to.

"To recap, a 737 crashed into Honolulu Bay approximately 45 minutes ago. According to witnesses, the airliner had an engine fire in the port wing as it was about to hit.

"However, the plane was brought in for a controlled splashdown by Edward Barnes in his Dragon form. Barnes, if viewers will recall, married Raven of the Titans several days ago and while they haven't been seen since then, they are at an undisclosed location near the beach.

"We've received this footage from one of the witnesses."

The video started to play and the anchor continued, "From what we can tell, Barnes was talking to his wife when they saw the plane is distress. OK, you can see Barnes heading towards the bay and morphing to dragon before starting to fly after the aircraft.

"He's gone into a configuration that we've not seen before here. His ridges seem to melt into his body and you can see his speed increasing as a result.

"Oh! Looks like he…Yes…He teleported to under the crippled jet. He's trying to put the engine fire out with his ice breath without much luck. He's looking at the ocean and, OK, it looks like Raven's using her powers to flatten out the waves here.

"Just in time as the plane hits the surface of the water. In the background, we can hear Edward telling the passengers to brace for impact.

"The plane is slowing to a stop, port engine ablaze. Now, we see Edward emerge from underwater and…impressive. He used his tail to swamp the port engine, snuffing the fire out.

"Oh my! Edward just increased his size! Someone confirm if this is his true size, please! It looks like he's standing on the bottom now as he goes under the plane. The plane stops sinking, so, at this point, we have to figure that he's supporting the craft as the passengers make their way off the plane, some opting to stand on the wings, others using their seat cushions as a flotation device, others are using the emergency escape chutes."

The video cut as the anchor said that the passengers and crew were brought safely to shore. They had helicopter news footage showing that aspect of the rescue operations, followed by Edward's struggle to get the plane to shore.

"Right after this, Edward returned to his human form and Raven teleported them away. We're assuming that they returned to their hotel room."

"Kill it," Edward requested. Raven turned off the TV and said, "That was awesome. You did well, sweetheart."

"I had some incredible help," he replied, "I couldn't have done that without you."

Raven turned to reply, only to see Edward's eyes closed. She said, "Sleep well, my love." She decided to put a blanket over his now sleeping form and made some herbal tea. She even decided to give him a break from their new nightly activity. He earned that much after holding up a plane for a while. Raven had realized that while he was quite powerful, if he was forced to maintain higher levels of strength for a long time, he would need time to recover.

She floated to the telephone and informed the front desk that they were not to be disturbed by anyone and would they have security escort any members of the press out that would manage to figure out where they were staying?

Edward's smartphone started to vibrate, so, Raven retrieved it and the display said "Nightwing".

Raven sighed and hit the talk button, "Raven here."

"Raven?" Nightwing said, "Is Edward available?"

"No, he's not," raven said, "He's taking a nap. Why do you ask?"

"We just saw what happened there and wanted to be sure you guys are OK," he said.

"We're fine," she responded, "I'm going to let Edward rest tonight."

"TMI, Raven," Nightwing said, then, chuckled, "But, seriously, you guys did good. Superman and Green Lantern will be by later to move the plane off the beach and they might want to stop in and see how you're doing as well."

"Nightwing," Raven said, "I know you and the other mean well, but, we're on our honeymoon! This will be the longest time we have together and in private for a long time. I'm asking that you respect that as well as the others. I don't mind Superman and GL visiting since they will be in the area anyway. We'll be back in 10 days and hopefully, this will be the only major incident."

"I know," Nightwing said, "Tell Edward we called, please."

"I will," she replied, "We'll see you in a few days."

She hung up and smiled to herself. She knew Edward might be out for another hour and as it was close to dinner-time, she looked at the menu and made her personal choice for dinner, but, she'd wait until he woke up to actually order something. Until then, she'd enjoy her herbal tea.

Hi, everyone!

Well, the honeymoon, even for Edward and Raven, has to have some action, right?

Hope you folks are enjoying the stories as much as I like writing them.

Next chapter: Mountains and Volcanoes (and, we see that Raven might have a as yet unknown fear of volcanoes.)

One other point: In the now lost manuscript from 1997/1998, I had Edward on board the Titanic when she struck the iceberg. in doing that, I had Edward saving most of the passengers aboard instead of the historical aspect of people drowning or freezing to death in the water. Those who studied the sinking know that there was a potential rescue ship nearby that failed to respond to the problem. In my altered timeline, Edward "convinced" the folks on the Californian to render assistance. This is also where Edward showed his dislike for locked gates in an emergency...he ripped those out as well and gave a protesting steward the shock of his life.

TTFN!