A/N: Hey, welcome to the second installment of Cardian! I don't have much time to do this, so I'll just give it a wing! And look out for my upcoming story, Life Renewed!! ;P
Cardian
Chapter 1: He's Back
Starfire sat on the roof. She was still in her uniform, but all her armor was off, sitting next to her. She always woke up around 4:30, but she didn't know why. . . Maybe it was because she hadn't gotten used to the time zone difference yet. Wait, she thought, I know, I have been waking up this early ever since . . . he left.Starfire sighed and hugged her knees tighter. I wonder how he is doing, what he is doing, she thought . . . I miss him . . . What if he was severely injured in battle? He should be back on Tamaran by now; would he not have sent me a transmission? Oh . . Starfire closed her eyes tightly and then with confidence opened them. He is alive, and wherever he is, he deeply wants to talk with me or see me again. I must not fret, everything is wonderful! Starfire relaxed, straightening her legs out in fromt of her. She rested her hands behind her for support. She smiled at the sunset, absorbing the solar energy. Suddenly a frown came to her face as a thought peeped in her head that she didn't want to hear . . .
I hope.
Just then the door opened and closed behind her as Robin walked over to her. "Hey," he started, taking a seat next to her, "Whatcha thinkin' about?"
"Oh nothing. Just using the solar energy to recharge my powers."
"Star I find it very unbelievable that you were sitting here thinking about absolutely nothing at all." Robin stared at her with an eyebrow raised.
Starfire gave him a little pout, "Can you not at least try to believe it?" she asked cutely.
Robin chuckled in response. Then he pretended to think. "Hmm . . ." He glanced at Starfire with that same look on her face, ". . . Nah."
He laughed while Starfire gave him a look that said, "Gee thanks." She then nudged him slightly. It didn't hurt him because she wasn't feeling that confident at the time. But it did shut him up. Starfire rested her head on his shoulder and the two stayed like that for a while. Ever since their "Tokyo experience", they technically were "together". Neither ever stated it officially, but both knew it was true.
"No matter how much I would love to just sit here all day, you still haven't answered my question," Robin commented, referring to his original question.
Starfire smiled, "You do realize that you have the best way to ruin a moment, yes?"
"Eh, it was in the job description." Starfire giggled, "No, seriously! It said, 'must know how to ruin the best of moments'," Robin joked, "You think I actually would've gotten this job if I didn't know how to do that? Come on, Star, you know me better than that." He waited for Starfire to finish laughing, "Hey, you wanna take a short test?"
Starfire sat up straight and turned to face him, "Very well."
"Okay, get ready . . . Now, what color is the sky?"
"Hmm . . ." Starfire though.
". . . Most of the time . . ."
". . . Blue?"
"Correct! Now, what color is my hair?"
"Black."
"What kind of black?"
"I would've said jet black, but . . ."
"Black, Robin, your hair is black."
"Okay, okay. What color is your hair?"
"Red."
"What kind of red?"
"Red red. Now can we please-"
"I would say it's kind of a brick red, but then again it's a different color depending on where and when you are . . . And it's kind of a weird auburn color sometimes . . ." Robin droned, absent mindedly playing with a lock of Starfire's hair.
" . . ." Starfire just stared at him with a dumb look on her face that said, "Are you obsessed with my hair or something? . . . Stalker!" (Or you could say she was O.o, whatever you want), ". . ."
Robin's face lit up as if he had an idea, "But then again, you hair is-" He was interrupted when a hand was placed on his mouth.
"Red, Robin. My hair is red." Starfire then let her hand fall from his mouth.
"Fine then. Now, what were you thinking?"
". . ."
"Come on, Star, you said you'd take the test, so you have to answer every question . . . It's mandatory."
"Well . . ." I guess it would not hurt if I told Robin about him Suddenly Starfire and Robin's communicators went off. They both opened their devices at the same time to reveal Beast Boy's frantic and panicking face. Starfire closed her communicator and peered over Robin's shoulder.
"Dudes, we're under attack!" Beast Boy yelled, dodging a laser blast from an unknown source. The blast caused a vibration to surge through the tower.
"By who?" Robin asked, going into "leader mode".
"Slade's dudes, dude! It's an ambush!" Beast Boy yelled before running somewhere.
"We'll meet you down there!" Robin shut his communicator and looked at Starfire giving her a look that said, "Sorry this moment couldn't last."
Starfire began putting her armor back on as Robin stood and rushed over to the door. He pulled it open and before he ran downstairs he paused to say,
"For the record, you passed."
Starfire smiled and watched him run down the stairs. She fastened on the last of her armor and stood, about to follow Robin. She paused as she felt a tingling sensation in her nose. She braced herself for what was coming and-
"ACHOO!" Starfire sneezed.
Starfire then gave a small sniffle and brushed under her nose, ". . . Metallic chronium . . .?" She slowly turned around to see a hoard of Slade's drones flying in midair behind her. They hovered with fire coming out of their heels. Starfire spun 360o while rising in the air. Her hands and eyes glowed their traditional neon green. "I assume Slade has discovered a new material to build his minions with, yes?" she dared. The drones responded by charging at her, and getting a barrage of starbolts as a welcome.
"I will take that as a yes!" Starfire single-handedly took on the drones, while they attempted to defeat her. After a while, a familiar tingling feeling made its way back into Starfire's nostrils. "A . . . a . . . a- . . . . . ." She calmed down thinking that the tingling feeling had gone. "ACHOO!" So much for that idea. During her sneeze, Starfire successfully demolished most of the drones around her. Unfortunately, as soon as she opened her eyes, a laser gun was pointed directly between her eyes and she was blasted to the roof. She skidded on the metal from the power of the blast.
Starfire shakily stood, clutching her upper arm. The skin had been scraped when she skidded. With medium-sized effort, she raised both arms in front of her, her hands in fists. Her hands lit with righteous green fury. She was going to display the trademark move she used against the Titan boys when she first met them, and her own arms became machine guns, her starbolts the bullets.
The drones were literally bl0own away. When she thought that she had destroyed them all, Starfire let her unlit arms fall to her sides. Unbeknownst to her, however, a drone appeared behind her with a laser gun pointed to the back of her head.
"ACHOO!" the Tamaranian sneezed once more. The drone stumbled slightly, but readied its weapon once more.
ZZING!!!
Starfire turned at the sound of metal slicing metal, and watched the drone fall into two halves of it, sparks flying randomly. She looked up slightly to see her savior. She was expecting Robin, with his "sword made of bird-a-rangs", but instead stared into a pair of sapphire-cerulean eyes of a boy the same age as her "boyfriend". The boy had golden-blond hair, and was shorter than Cyborg but taller than Starfire. He was wearing a shirt similar to Starfire's, but it was longer, down to his waist. He was also wearing purple pants that were covered by black boots that went up to his mid-thigh. He wore the same armor; every gem was a sapphire, unlike her own emerald. At the moment he was yielding a thick sword that was slightly curved and had a gold line running through its middle.
"Hello," he said in a calming voice. When he said this, Starfire knew her assumptions were true. He was a Tamaranian. "I have not seen you in a while . . ."
Starfire raised an eyebrow, giving him a confused look. "Pardon?" she asked in her native language.
"Please don't tell me you have forgotten me," he said, slightly disappointed while sheathing his sword. I t was very clear that his sword was too thick to fit into the sheath, but it magically thinned itself so that it would fit. "It has only been 4 Earth years."
Starfire thought for a while. Who had she seen 4 years ago? Well, then she was on Tamaran. Well, until the Gordanians came and snatched her up. Who- . . . It cannot be! She thought, Cardian? "Cardian?" she asked, giving the name of the boy she was thinking about not too long ago.
"Took you long enough. " He gave her a small smile and held open his arms for a hug.
Starfire squealed with delight. "Cardian!" she jumped into his arms and embraced him, "Oh, I haven't seen you in ages!"
"One would think that if they finally found their best friends as soon as they saw them, that that best friend would do the same! I cannot believe you didn't remember me!" "Cardian" argued, hugging her back.
"Many apologies, I haven't been thinking correctly lately . . ."
"Dude, did anybody catch that?"
Starfire released Cardian and turned at the sound of Beast Boy's voice. The two faced the four Titans giving them the weirdest of looks. "Um . . ."
"Friend of yours?" Raven asked. Robin would have asked that , but he was too occupied trying not to strangle their new arrival.
"Hello, I'm-" Cardian started, but was silenced by Starfire.
"Shh"
"Well SORRY for being polite!"
The Titans stared as Starfire began to argue with the stranger. Cyborg pulled four earplug from his arm and distributed them among the Titans. "Here", he said, "These are language transmitters. I think they can transmit Tamaranian as well."
And indeed they did.
"Do not say anything!" Starfire said in a harsh whisper.
"Well, can I at least talk to them?" Cardian asked.
"No! They cannot understand a word you're saying!"
"They cannot?"
"No! For all they know, you could be calling them a derogatory term!"
". . . Oh . . . Thank X'hal!"
" . . . What?" Starfire yelled.
"For a moment, I thought I was the only one who could not understand!"
". . ." Starfire was giving him a sarcastic look, "Figure that all out on your own did you?"
"Ouch," Cyborg commented. Starfire and Cardian faced the others.
" . . . Friends! This is Cardian, my best friend from Tamaran," Starfire introduced.
"I thought I was-"Robin started.
"Naw, dude! You were her best friend from Earth, but now since you're her boyfriend, she needs a new best friend! From Earth and from Tamaran!" Beast Boy explained.
"Oh my God, that actually made an ounce of sense," Raven said with fake astonishment.
"I honestly can't understand a word they just said," Cardian said, pointing at the Titans.
"Well, we can understand you," Cyborg pointed to his earplugs.
"They can understand you with their earplugs," Starfire translated.
"Oh, that is just brilliant! Can't you just kiss me and get this all over with?"
"What-NO!" Both Starfire and Robin said at the same time.
"Why me?" Starfire asked.
"Because I believe that that purple haired girl over there would be infuriated if I did that to her, and she might even kill me because of that."
"He's right you know," Raven agreed, looking at Starfire.
"Here," Cyborg said, tossing Cardian an extra earplug, "I guess Star won't need it."
"What did he say?" Cardian asked, catching the earplug with ease.
"Put it in your ear and shut up," Starfire ordered rudely.
"Jeez, someone's having PTC."
"Shhh! Don't say such things!"
"Well, it's true!"
"No it's not"
"Ooh! Ooh! What's PTC? Come on, tell me! Tell me!" Beast Boy pleaded. He obviously didn't want to be left out. The two Tamaranians looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world . . . Which, frankly, he was.
"Oh! Well, PTC stands for-"Cardian explained.
"Shut up!" Starfire yelled.
"Well, he asked! Besides, how do you say it on Earth?"
"I wouldn't know!"
"And why not?"
"Because I would rather read a book than ask my friends what it means!"
" . .Why not?"
"How would it sound to you if I walked up to Raven and asked her, 'Hello, friend, what is this part of the female anatomy called on Earth'" Starfire said, gesturing to her, well . . . "chest cavity".
For the next span of time, the Titans blushed and seemed to choke on oxygen.
"Are your friends having trouble breathing?" Cardian asked calmly.
"I believe it is that they are not as mature on the subject."
"Oh, okay . . . Mm-hmm . . . So, what were you saying about grebnacks?"
"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "THAT'S what those are? Dude, it was dark!
I didn't know what I was touching!" He was referring to the time when Raven turned the tower into a haunted house ("Fear Itself"), ". . . Now I'm gonna be scarred for life!"
". . . Do I even want to know what that was about . . . ?" Cardian asked, sitting down.
"No, I . . . don't believe so ." Starfire said, sitting down as well, ". . . Well, they seem to be occupied . . .," she said, referring to the Titans, who were still choking. Raven had stopped by now, and was watching with amusement. Beast Boy was frantically asking Cyborg for antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer. Robin was trying to get . . . "images" out of his mind (That pervert . . .).
". . . Are you going to kiss me or do I have to?" Cardian randomly asked his childhood friend.
"Well, why do I have to-"Starfire was cut off by Cardian's lips on hers. Out of pure instinct (or experience, if you want to call it that) with Robin, she laced her arms around his neck.
Raven saw this and tapped Beast Boy on the shoulder. The changeling turned and froze along with Cyborg, their mouths agape.
"What's everybody loo-"Robin began, before three hands grabbed his head and forced him to look at the two aliens. He immediately went into the same pose he had when Starfire thought she was going to marry the Tamaranian guy she saw before she met Gryllderlskletch (A/N: Who was hot, by the way . . . I PWN HIM! MUHAHAHAHA!! Star: No, I do! E101: Bug off! –Gets into fight and E101 is defeated-)
Cardian broke apart from Starfire (no matter how much he didn't want to, and he didn't) and smiled. "Well, that wasn't hard, now was it?" In return he received a big whack upside the head. "Hey! That hurt!" Cardian rubbed his head.
"My mouth was open, you overzealous son of a-Augh!" Starfire exclaimed, wiping her mouth as she stormed downstairs.
". . . Besides that, how was it?" Cardian chased after her.
"Well, that was weird," Raven spoke everyone's thoughts at the time. Well, all the Titans'. Besides Starfire, who was thinking, I can't believe he-Ew! Cardian was thinking, Well, that's something I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
A/N: Well, that's the second chapter! Tell me how you like Cardian so far! I know Star was kinda OC here, but it's cuz she acts differently around Cardian. She's also more comfortable speaking Tamaranian than English, which is why she used contractions (it's, you're, they're, I'm, etc.)
Alan: That was. . . interesting. When's my story coming out?
E101: Soon enough, my young brainchild.
Alan: Here's a thought: How can you create me, yet I'm older than you?
E101: Shut up! You're giving away my secret identity! –Sends away with amazing brainpower-
Cardian, Starfire, and Titans: O.O
