A/N: So many of you guys were able to guess the song, "Hey Mickey!" in the last chapter. I am very impressed! I've responded to a few of your reviews from last time and hope that you enjoy this chapter just as well.
Chapter 3: What Dreams Are Made Of
In the real world, Cyborg's body was slightly tossing and turning, and his lips were pulled into his mouth, as if he were trying to avoid eating something. His body then went completely still and Dark Energy poured out of his forehead. The energy shifted and took the form of Raven's Soul Self. She looked down and saw that her hands were no longer crackling with energy as frequently. Raven thought silently thought to herself, "Well that worked off some of my excess power, but I still have a lot left to get rid of." Just then, she heard another series of voices coming from outside of Cyborg's room and phased through his wall to investigate, leaving Cyborg to resume tossing and turning as he murmured, "It's even worse than I thought it would be…"
Raven's Soul Self appeared in the hallway outside of Cyborg's room and followed the noises she had heard until she came to the outside of Starfire's door. Raven phased through the door and reappeared inside Starfire's room, a few feet from Starfire's bed. Raven turned and saw Starfire sleeping soundly, wrapped tightly in her covers with a smile on her face as she was cuddling a sleeping Silkie.
Raven noticed that the noises she had heard from outside were coming from an orange aura that surrounded Starfire. Raven reached out to touch the aura, but then hesitated. She thought to herself, "Last time I did not know I was entering Cyborg's dream, so I really wasn't invading his privacy, but if I were enter Starfire's dream now, I'll have to bear upon my conscience that I betrayed the trust of one of my closest friends." Raven thought this over for a minute and then looked at the crackling energy coming from her hands. "But…I'm sure she won't mind just a tiny peek." Having made up her mind, she reached out towards Starfire's orange aura and was sucked into her dream as she had been with Cyborg.
Raven felt a tickling on her nose and opened eyes to find that her body was solid once again, but more importantly she found that there was a creature with six light blue eyes, pink and blue fur, and a long trunk that resembled that of an anteater. The creature sniffed her all over her face before seeming satisfied, and then nuzzled against her, softly purring. Even though Raven was not one for such gestures of affection, she could not help but gently stroke the creature's head and smile.
Raven stared at her surroundings and was surprised to find lush vegetation all around her, not only green in color but every hue one would find in a rainbow. "Is this Tameran? When the Titans and I visited there last time, I remember it being more of a desert planet." She looked down at the creature that had made itself quite comfortable on her lap and said, "You are being awfully familiar, aren't you? I don't even know what to call you." The creature lazily rose its' head and made a noise that sounded a lot like, "Snoot." Raven raised an eyebrow and said, "Snoot, huh? You won't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
The creature's trunk rose and began scratch its own head, as if it were deep in thought. Snoot then rose and bounded off of Raven's lap and into a thicket of blue bushes. Raven quickly rose to her feet and called, "Hey, come back! I really don't know my way around here!" Raven waited for a moment to see if Snoot would return, but when it did not, she gave an exasperated moan and floated after the creature. She levitated around the trees and over the bushes and soon saw Snoot just ahead of her, crouching behind some bushes.
Raven floated down, leaned over beside Snoot, and said, "I'll admit that you're not the worst company I've ever kept, considering that I am on the same team as a videogame playing, tofu eating, shape-shifting prankster, but if you run off again there is no way I am following you." Snoot continued to stare through the bushes and Raven sighed and turned her head to see what exactly Snoot was staring at.
On the other side of the bushes was a large building that Raven recognized the as the Tamereanean royal palace, the place they had stayed during their visit to Tameran and where they had saved Starfire from being forced into an arranged marriage by her sister Blackfire. From Raven's left she heard a girl's voice calling, "Silkie! Do not hurry so my little bumgorf, otherwise Robin and I shall not be able to keep up with you." Silkie bounded into the little clearing in front of the bushes where Raven hid, and turned his head in the direction from which he had come, making squeaking noises to coax Starfire to follow him. However, Starfire did not appear and Silkie began to inch back towards he had come, wearing a worried expression on his wormy face.
Suddenly, Starfire flew down from above and caught the little larva in a tight hug, "Aha! I have caught you my mischievous mungerwop, you have caused me much grief, so I believe it is only fair that you are punished accordingly." With that being said, Silkie gulped and a large bead of sweat fell from his forehead, but a large grin on Starfire's revealed that the larva would receive no mercy.
Silkie attempted to wrench himself from Starfire's arms, but it was to no avail. Starfire dropped Silkie to the floor and began to tickle him, running her fingers between his nubby legs and down his chubby belly. Silkie squeaked and squirmed, giggling madly and rolling around in the grass. Starfire was also laughing, and Raven herself could not help but giggle slightly. Raven mused to herself that even though Starfire was one of the Titan's fiercest warriors, at heart she was one of the gentlest and sweetest people anyone could ever know.
Raven focused back to the tickle war in front of her and saw that Silkie had somehow slipped out of Starfire's grasp and turn the tables on her, tickling her with his tiny nubs. Robin, or more appropriately, Starfire's dream version of Robin walked into the clearing from the same direction Silkie had come from earlier and watched Starfire and Silkie with an expression of amusement on his face. Raven stared at Robin and noticed that he was not wearing his usual Titan's uniform, but instead was dressed in Tamereanean garb; similar to what Raven had seen some of the natives wear from their trip. Despite this change in his wardrobe, Robin's mask was still fixed on his face, although Raven could easily see the warmth of his expression when Starfire rose from her romp with Silkie.
Starfire's face was flushed bright red as she said, "Oh Robin, I am so sorry for abandoning you on our tour. I just did not wish for Silkie to stray too far." Robin said, "That's okay Star. You guys didn't go too far." Starfire leaned down and gathered Silkie up into her arms, and said, "It is wonderful that you were able to accompany me to my home planet. I am sad that the others cannot be here to witness this most joyous event for my people. The fact that we have defeated the Gordanian Empire has allowed my people to reverse engineer their technology that devastated Tameran's ecosystems and reduced the planet to a barren landscape. The rich biodiversity you see before you is the Tameran I had always known before I came to Earth…"
Starfire's voice broke off and Robin noticed tears welling up in Starfire's eyes and drew her close to him in a gentle embrace. Starfire placed her head on Robin's shoulder and softly said, "I thought I would never see my home restored to this state ever again…" Starfire rose off of Robin's shoulder's and wiped her eyes quickly and smiled apologetically, "I am sorry. I know Earthlings are not used to such open displays of emotion as we are here on Tameran."
Robin shook his head and said, "It's probably true that Earthlings do not show as many emotions openly as Tamereaneans, but this truly is something to celebrate Star, and I could not be happier for you and your people." Starfire turned bright red again, but there was a small grin on her face that showed her gratitude for Robin's kind words.
Robin looked down, saw Silkie lightly dozing in Starfire's arms, and said, "Poor little guy's been tuckered out by running around today. I can hardly believe this is the little ball of energy we've been chasing after all morning." As Robin spoke, Raven, who had been crouching in the bushes for such a long time she felt as though her legs were about to fall off, noticed that her hands were still sparking slightly with bursts of Dark Energy.
Robin lifted his eyes to meet Starfire's and said, "We should probably follow Silkie's lead and head in for some dinner. You know, on Earth I never could quite appreciate the unique delicacy of your Tamereanean cuisine as I can here on its' native ground." Starfire was pleased by the compliment, but Raven noticed that she seemed reluctant to head inside. Raven closed her eyes and focused on Starfire and channeled her energy to see the images on the surface of Starfire's mind that explained why she was feeling so hesitant.
Raven opened her eyes and a smile appeared upon her face. She turned to Robin, focused the crackling energy in her hands upon him, and suddenly his eyes were coated in a flash of Dark Energy. He turned around and returned to where Starfire was standing and said, "On second thought, why don't we stay outside and watch the moonrise above the forest, I hear it was one of the most unique experiences in the galaxy before the Gordonians attacked."
Starfire's eyes lit up with excitement and she said, "Oh Robin, that would make me very happy, and I know an ideal location to witness this beauteous event." Starfire took Robin by the arms and they ran towards the forest, passing very closely to Raven's bush, but Raven had taken Snoot under her arm and had hidden behind a tree and watched as Starfire carried Robin deeper into the forest. Snoot watched as the two got farther away and pointed his long nose after them, Raven nodded in silent agreement and they took off after her friends with Snoot's nose locked onto their scents.
Starfire and Robin came to a lake in the middle of a large clearing in the forest. The Sun was already setting so Starfire rushed to a spot she seemed most comfortable and plopped Robin right beside her. Robin was very dizzy since he had been holding Starfire's hand while she had been running very quickly, and thus he had literally been dragged through the forest. He shook his head to regain his composure and stared into the Tamerean sky, not noticing that Raven and Snoot had just arrived and had taken a seat behind a tree just a few feet from Starfire and Robin.
The sky went dark and Starfire gasped in glee and the Moon began to rise above the trees. The Tamereanean trees detected the absence of light and switched over to their nocturnal metabolic functions, which included releasing clouds of bioluminescent spores in the air. The spores' lights combined with the shine of the Moon created a brilliant effect of reflecting lights throughout the trees that were flashing everywhere, with hoops of rainbows randomly appearing and growing in size until they just as quickly disappeared.
Raven stared in awe of the beauty of the forest, but noticed that Starfire was pointing at the lake so the Robin could see something else. The Moon had risen directly above the lake and was reflecting off of the surface of the water, which in turn shone upon the spores to create a pillar of rainbow light that rose slightly higher than the tops of the surrounding trees. From peering into Starfire's mind, Raven had knew that she had really wanted to share this experience with Robin and thus braced herself for Starfire's characteristic squeals of joy.
Raven waited and yet she heard nothing, so she and Snoot peered from their hiding place to see if everything was alright. Starfire had a rather serene expression on her face rather than her usual energetic glee. She drew herself close to Robin, whose eyes shifted from the lake back to her as she said, "Robin, I am so happy right now. The fact that you are here experiencing this great joy with me is something I will never forget. I will treasure this moment always." The simple bliss on Starfire's face moved Raven deeply.
Starfire was one Raven's few friends who had accepted her openly and without hesitation when the Titans had first formed after rescuing Starfire from the Gordonians, something not many people could also claim. This landscape within her mind was supposed to represent her innermost desires and fantasies, yet Starfire's dream had shown that she was most content sharing her joy with others. Raven thought back and remembered one more image from when she had scanned Starfire's mind.
Raven concentrated on the energy within her hands and Robin's whole body flashed with Dark Energy for a brief moment. Starfire had been too preoccupied with the lake to notice what had just happened to Robin, but she turned towards him when she felt him rising from the floor. At first she thought he was just standing up, but she then noticed that Robin's feet were no longer on the ground, hovering a few inches in the air. Starfire's eyes widened and she began to ask, "How…" Before she could finish Robin put a finger to her mouth to shush her and said "Come with me."
He moved his hand away from Starfire's face and placed it on the small of her back. Starfire rose into the air with Robin and they then both moved into the pillar of rainbow light shining off the lake's surface. Once inside, Robin took Starfire's hand into his own and they descended until their feet were touching the lake's surface, where they began to dance. The dance was slow and graceful; with Robin and Starfire's arms shifting into positions that seemed to tell a story of love, honor, and beauty.
Once their dance was complete Starfire rested head upon Robin's shoulder and said, "This is all too wonderful to be true." Robin slowly took his arms from Starfire and lifted his hands to his face. He peeled the edges of his mask off and stared into Starfire's green eyes with his own blue ones. He quietly said, "Starfire, every moment I'm with you is a moment of pure, unbridled joy." Raven stared on as he then leaned in for a kiss, but quickly turned her head away, partially out respect for Starfire, but also out of the pain the scene had brought her by reminding her that she had fled her own Dream Boy. Raven looked down at Snoot and said, "I'm going now. Watch out for her in her dreams for me, okay?" Snoot raised his nose and did a little soldier's salute and watched as Raven silently rose into the Tamereanean night sky until he could no longer tell her apart from the hundreds of stars above.
A/N: Surprisingly, Snoot is not my own creation but was actually featured in the movie: Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. If anyone can leave a review that identifies in which scene he appeared within the movie, I will reward that reader with a hint to the identity of the dreamer in the next chapter. The whole movie is on youtube if you need a reference, so have fun and see you next Monday.