Have I ever mentioned that life just SUCKS sometimes? No? Well it does.
Hello my lovelies! I'm back! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know this is overdue but you know...life... This is the longest chapter I've ever written, but I'll probably write longer chapters later. So I have added in some humor. ...And then I added some angst. Please don't kill me!
At the bottom I will explain each joke that is labelled with (*number*).
Now, thanks to my beautiful twin, BGuate224, she has generously translated some of the writing into Spanish for me. I hate Google Translator because I don't think it translates properly. So when you see Spanish words, the English translation is in parentheses ( ). Some of it does switch mid sentence to Spanish though. Just a warning.
Chapter: Almost 16 Pages on Microsoft word. 8,397 words, without the author notes on top and bottom.
Last note: IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING (OC creators, if I am using your OC, please read!) (Basically read everything after this bolded/italicized/underlined line):Here's the deal. To make the story better and easier, I have changed some of the OC ages and if you didn't have a height, I made up a height for you. There were only a couple OC ages I had to change but the heights, there were a lot more than I thought. Now, if you were the creator of the OC and you don't want the age changed or want to change the height I gave them, you need to PM me and let me know because if you don't at the beginning, I will not change it in the middle of the story. This goes for anything, personality, style of clothing, etc. This will be your only warning. I will not have people complain that I messed up the height, age, personality, style of clothing, etc., because I did warn you. I can not stress this enough. That is all though.
Now, as I'm about to get started on the actually plot (YAY!), I need some classes from you guys. My school is huge, and I mean huge. We have a special Medical Academy program and we are one of the top High Schools for Engineering. We have almost every sport and we have a huge Music/Arts program. So based on your age, I have placed you in a grade. There are no Freshman in this story and very few Seniors. So I need you to either review or PM me if there are any specific classes you wish to take.
Also, I have changed a couple of pairings. Most of you are still with your first pairing but, Falcon, Blake, Drago, Alexa, and BG need to PM me to discuss pairings. Falcon and BG already have an idea for what is going on. But the others, I need you to message me.
Lastly, I will post this warning for the next couple of chapter, but after I start the plot, I will not be changing characters or classes unless I deem it necessary.
HAPPY READING! And please review!
-Teen Titans East Tower-
As Titans West was 3 hours behind Titans East, Titans East already had their dishes clean and put away from breakfast and everyone was up and awake, and most were either training or were messing around before training.
"FOR NARNIA!" A young hero yelled as he shot an arrow at a target and hit the center of the target. (*1*)
The young man was alone in the large training room but he didn't seem to mind. Taking quick aim for his next target, the young male said into the emptiness, "I am Legolas from Lord of the Rings! Fear me and my flawless hair!" (*2*) With that said, he shot at the target, hitting dead center again.
Now the man stood at 5'11", with tan skin from probably being outside a lot as he was known to love the outdoors, and had red fiery hair, which looked more orange than red, though he had no freckles. His hair laid flat on his head yet he had some bangs that lay on his forehead, unlike Robin's hair, who was his arch rival of sorts. Unsurprisingly, the hero wasn't wearing a shirt and only had a pair of red and gold basketball shorts on. In the bottom right corner of the shorts showed his symbol, a black S in a yellow circle. "Nananananananananana…" The man sang to himself as he took aim and when he released the arrow he shouted, "Speedy!" (*3*)
As usual, the arrow hit dead center. With a sigh, he noticed that all the targets had been shot at so he headed towards his last target that had a number 80 above it and started to retrieve his arrows from all the targets. All the while he was singing loudly, and off key slightly, "80 arrows in targets, 80 arrows in targets, take one down, put it in the pile, 79 arrows to go. 79 arrows in targets…" And he continued counting down while also singing about it.
"Having fun Speedy?" A voice sounded from the doorway making him stop his ridiculous singing.
As Speedy turned towards the door, his forest green eyes lit up, even more than usual, as he saw who was at the door. Leaning against the doorway was a girl that was about 5'3" which made her short compared to him. Her dark brown hair was pulled back with a rose red hairband, which was usual for her, but instead of her usual clothes, she was wearing a white sports bra and had red and white basketball shorts on. Just like Speedy, she was barefoot but that was a little unusual for her as she usually wore her red ballerina flats.
"Mind if I join? I rather get training done now rather than later." The young heroine asked Speedy nervously.
She was lucky Speedy was oblivious and didn't notice how nervous she really was. Instead he just smiled brightly, which made his eyes sparkle, and replied, "I don't mind at all Rosie! Come on! You can help me pull out the other 59 arrows!"
Rose, or Rosie as Speedy (and only Speedy was allowed to) called her, shook her head before straightening up and said, "Fine Speedy."
Internally, Speedy jumped up and down celebrating, but outside he just smiled and started pulling out some more arrows as Rose joined him. As Rose was walking over to Speedy with the rest of the arrows, she subconsciously started playing with her rose necklace with one hand nervously. Speedy, in a moment of maturity and intelligence realized that she played with her rose necklace a lot around him. Though, as we all know, good things must come to an end and his thought process was interrupted when she handed him all his arrows. "Thank you Rosie!" Speedy said and kissed her cheek.
Rose was frozen still before she unfroze herself a couple of seconds later and she nodded, trying to fight off a blush that was trying to surface.
If it had been anyone else, they would have figured out that Rose liked Speedy, but because Speedy wasn't the most intelligent, unless he was dead serious, he didn't notice really anything. Speedy wasn't like Robin; he wasn't a detective and he noticed only so much. Now if it was a serious situation, you would be surprised how Speedy acted and how observant he actually was. In some ways, he was like Changeling; immature but when the situation called for it, could be very serious.
Rose took a few minutes, all the while fighting down her blush, and when she was calm enough she grabbed her iPod from her basketball shorts' pocket and put it in her ear and turned on the music. Though not before she heard Speedy yell, "I'm going Archer!" (*4*)
Internally Rose rolled her eyes but outside she just smiled and headed to the treadmill to get her heart pumping before she started her real workout. While doing everything, both of the people occupying the training room kept sneaking glances at each other, though neither said anything to the other.
-Somewhere else-
"Stupid game! I totally head shot him! Gah! No! Watch out behind you! No! STUPID STUPID STUPID!" A girl screamed at the TV as she jumped up from the couch with a game controller in her hands.
Now, she had a white ear piece in her ear so she was also screaming into the microphone at the people on the other line. One of guys on the other end said, "Hah! You just died again. Since you're just a girl, you should just leave."
Her sky blue eyes darkened slightly in anger before she calmly told them, "You think that just because I'm a girl I suck? Just wait."
With that said, she sat back down, blew a strand of her golden brown hair out of her eyes and face. She sat there shouting out commands to others on her team, taking control instantly, and literally started just killing every enemy in sight, showing no mercy. As the end screen showed up, it showed that she was 1st over everyone and her team won. "Still think girls suck? I'll have you know that out of my friends, who are about 4 other girls, I'm not even the best. Do yourself a favor, whoever said basically said girls suck, add me as a friend so when I'm with my girlfriends, I'll show you that girls are better than you think. Choose any game and we'll beat you easily. Auna is out."
With that she turned off the ear piece, and logged out of the console before turning it off. "Auna, you are scary sometimes girl. I hope you know that." Came a female voice from the door way.
The girl named Auna turned towards the voice and stuck out her tongue childishly and said, "Well I'm sorry Bee that I scared you."
The girl called Bee just rolled her eyes as another girl walked past her. The girl that walked past Bee was small with shoulder length blonde hair. She had bright hazel eyes and said sarcastically, "Well, it's not like you're almost an adult. Not like you're supposed to actually be mature."
Auna fake glared at the newcomer, her nose scrunching up slightly. But she didn't hold the fake glare for long; soon she just broke into a smile that stretched from one freckled cheek to the other. "Well hello to you too, Faira."
The girl named Faira rolled her eyes before continuing on her way to the kitchen. Faira was adorning purple basketball shorts and a white baseball t-shirt. She stood in front of the island counter in the kitchen for a second before her hair shortened into basically a pixie cut except her facial features changed until they were masculine. Right in front of Bee's and Auna's eyes, Faira had turned into a man in a matter of seconds.
Now, Faira's powers are almost like Changeling's except instead of changing into animals, she could change her physical appearance, even her gender, in a matter of seconds. It came quite handy during a battle because she could easily change what she looked like and confuse the criminals. That wasn't all that she could do, but we'll get to that later.
Still wearing the same outfit, but now a man, Faira just grabbed a water bottle before she headed towards the training room. Bee sighed before looking at Auna who was currently stretching. Auna was still in her pajamas, which was a normal thing unless they were going out or after her video games she changed to go train. Her pajamas consisted of, today anyway, blue pajama pants that had little Legend of Zelda symbols all over it and a purple shirt, which was slightly baggy, with a large Gumby on it. Sometimes the pajamas matched, and sometimes they didn't.
Finally finished stretching, Auna turned around and looked at Bee. Now that Titans East had gotten settled finally, Bee was more comfortable around everyone and started dressing more casual. Bee still had her hair in those twin buns on the back of her head but her clothes were more casual. Today she had on a shirt that was black and had yellow writing that said, "Don't worry, I don't sting….hard." And in a tinier font read, "Sometimes anyway, just depends how much you piss me off."
It had been a gift from Alexa when they were having one of their crazier days. Sometimes the Titans made custom shirts, most of the time they were forced to participate by a certain group, and this was just a shirt that Alexa made. Though BG had added on the tinier font at the last second and Alexa had no idea until the shirt showed up at their door.
Auna smiled softly at the memory and continued to check out Bee's outfit noticing that she was wearing a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. How Bee had fit her hips and her butt more especially, into those jeans, Auna did not want to know. Leave it to Bee though that she still wore shoes, even inside the Tower. She was wearing just a nice pair of black Chuck Taylors that had yellow laces and were yellow on the inside. Raven had introduced Bee to the wonderfulness that were Chuck Taylors, after she had stolen a pair from the younger girls and had discovered them at the mall when Starfire had made, more like forced, Raven to go shopping with her.
"I'm guessing you already trained today Bee." Auna stated more than asked.
It was a known fact that Bee got up early so she could train before breakfast and then do her leader duties throughout the day. Robin in Titans West used to do that, but he broke that habit as he got less sleep than he got now; Robin was a night person because of all the years with Batman. But Robin still did more training than others, as if to prove he was a superhero even though he had no real powers, and still got all his leadership duties done. If Robin had been anyone else, they wouldn't be able to handle the consistent strain, mentally, physically, and emotionally, that all of the training and being a leader came with.
Auna stretched one last time before heading towards her room telling Bee over her shoulder, "I'm going to go train now, have fun with paperwork."
Bee scowled lightly; she absolutely hated paperwork and sometimes even tried to procrastinate it. But the bad thing for Bee is that since Aqualad was second in command after Bee, he always made her do the paperwork. That and the fact that Robin always wanted all the files before she turned it into the city or where ever the paperwork was supposed to go. And he had a strict rule to have it in to him at least 2 days before the paperwork was due to the people requesting it.
With an exasperated sigh, Bee turned around and started heading to her own room to get started on the paper work that was taunting her.
-Outside-
A tan male sat on a rock, looking out into the ocean that crashed against the shore. The man was dripping wet, as if he had just gotten out of the water. His pitch black eyes watching the ocean as a small smile graced his lips. He was wearing a regular black wet suit over his scaly skin. In the top right of the wet suit read, "Aqualad". All the wet suits were labeled to who owned them, but Aqualad owned most of them. Aqualad's scaly skin looked like a superhero uniform for people that didn't know better. The first time Aqualad had met the Titans, he was wearing nothing except for a Speedo that had blended in with his skin. The Titans, before anyway, didn't know any better, but upon treating his injuries, that had found out that what they had thought was a costume was actually skin.
Aqualad's hair was still out of his face but it had grown longer since he had joined Titans East. It now reached the bottom of his shoulder blades. Also, as this went with most of the Titans, he had grown up and wasn't as scrawny as before.
With a sigh, Aqualad got up and stretched. Usually, he would go up to the training room after an hour just swimming around and relaxing. Yet, recently, he has gotten more stressed and felt like something was going to happen soon; whether it was good or bad, he didn't know. Deciding that he was still a little too stressed, Aqualad walked into the water once again and then dived down deep into the calm Atlantic Ocean.
Once submerged in the ocean, he smiled widely at the coral bed underneath him and at all the different types of sea life that surrounded him. It reminded him slightly of home but Titans East Tower was his home now and he honestly wouldn't trade it in for anything else.
The young hero's smile widened just a little bit as some of the sea creatures were inviting him to play with them. It wasn't an odd occasion when he would just race against some dolphins, playfully wrestle some sharks, or even play hide-and-seek with some fish. Sometimes even tag. They reminded him of children and he loved children; humans and sea creatures both.
Some villains had figured it out and tried to use children as a weakness to him, but after the first couple of attempts they realized that bringing children into a situation actually made Aqualad deadlier. Once, he had almost lost control because a whole Daycare and Elementary school was held hostage, though the Titans managed to calm him down, which he was grateful for.
Aqualad sighed before swimming off to join the sea life and just relaxed.
-Somewhere in the Tower-
2 boys, younger than the rest, were sitting in their joint room. They had their own rooms but the rooms were right next to each other and the wall separating the rooms had a door. These were the only rooms like that.
At the moment, the 2 youngest heroes were currently sitting on a bed, with a book in front of them. Though they were facing each other and trying out the new words. "Oye, Mas, debemos descansar en un ratito, tal vez ir al ensayo. Estábamos practicando nuestro inglés para casi dos horas." (Hey Mas, we should take a break in a little bit, maybe even go train. We've been practicing our English for the past 2 hours.)
"Yo sé Menos, pero, porque no hacemos estos últimos dos palabras y después podemos ir a jugar a los videojuegos y ir al ensayo." (I know Menos, but let's just get done with these last two words and then we'll go play some video games and train.)
The younger of the twins gave a sigh before smiling and nodding before concentrating a little and saying slow, "Ex…tra…ordinary…Extraord…inary…Extraordinary!"
Menos smiled happily at his older brother of 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Mas smiled back and tried speaking in English to his brother. The Spanish twins were trying to speak English fluently to help their team mates understand what they were saying and not always having to rely on pictures and translators. "There we go Menos. Now, just a cou…ple more words and then por fin terminamos!" (finally finished) Mas praised his brother but slipped back into Spanish at the end.
Being younger than the others, it was harder for the two of them to always be diligent and they sometimes took the easy route, especially when a word was too hard. They were getting better, but it was still hard. "Just one more word. Aw….tis…sum….awtissum." Menos tried with a slight look of confusion on his face.
"Autism." Mas corrected his brother gently.
The two were very close twins, as close as Saffire and BG, yet they were blood related. Mas might have been older by only a bit, but he was slightly more mature and slightly more intelligent. It was only known to the twins, Speedy, and Bee that Menos had dyslexia. That just made learning a new language that much harder on the poor boy, but he powered through, with the help of his twin, of course.
At first glance, back before meeting the Titans, they, meaning their teacher, had thought that Menos was just retarded because he had such trouble learning and because of that, he was very withdrawn. But Mas was there for his brother and explained to their parents and teachers what was wrong. That was all before they discovered their powers, but that little thing made all the different.
"Awtism." Menos tried, it sounded almost completely right except how he pronounced the A.
"Not awtism, trata deciendo la A como cuando el doctor te pregunta que tienes que abrir tu boca, ahhhhh."(try making the A like how you would go 'ahhhhh' when the doctor asks you to.) Mas tried to explain, being as patient as he always was.
Mas knew Menos was trying hard which made Mas proud to be his brother. In the beginning, Menos didn't care and that angered Mas to no end. But finally, after talking sense into his brother, more like yelled, Menos started to try.
"Ahtism….Autism...Is that right?" Menos said, giving his brother a hopeful look, hoping he had finally got it right.
Mas nodded and smiled before answering, "Lo hicistes my bien. Pienso que eso fue suficiente inglés para hoy." (That's very good. I think that's enough English words for today.) "
Menos got this huge grin on his face and replied easily, "Estoy tan feliz que todavía podemos hablar español entre nosotros. Haci todo es mas rapido y facil. Pero prendiendo inglés va a ayudar los de mas, especialmente cuando estamos en un situación de batalla." (I'm so glad that we get to still talk in Spanish with each other. It makes things faster and easier. Though learning English will help the others, especially in battle situations.)
Mas nodded before getting up from the bed and stretched. Like any boy of his age, he was wearing a Superhero shirt, and today it was a Spiderman t-shirt. He had on jeans that had holes in the knees and were fraying on the bottom. Menos was the same except his shirt had a Monster truck on the front.
Since they had super speed like Kid Flash, well except they always had to be touching, they wore rings like Kid Flash had because if they didn't have their suits, their clothes would just instantly burn up. Also, so the team wouldn't get confused, they wore necklaces, Mas wearing a plus and Menos wearing a minus. The necklaces were made out of titanium so that they wouldn't get burned away. And even if the necklaces didn't work, on Mas' left palm was a plus birthmark and on Menos' right palm was a minus birthmark. Before, Menos had a gap between his two front teeth which helped but they had gotten him some braces which had closed the gap, making them even more identical.
Neither twin was wearing any socks or shoes at the moment but neither minded. They looked at each other before they started to walk to the Common Room where the game console was. Normally, they would just stay in their own room since they had their own gaming systems, but they decided to play in the Common Room. Plus, anyone could join in their game, which made everything much more interesting.
Both boys though wished that they could just speed to the Common Room, but at the moment they couldn't because they rather liked their clothes and didn't want to change into their costumes if they could help it.
Lucky for them, and for Kid Flash, there were some scientists who were looking into making a chemical that lets their regular clothes be able to stand the fast speed without changing the clothes. So far, it was in the testing stage but they said the testing was going very well, so they might be able to actually put the substance to use soon enough.
Funny enough, all 3 speedsters had red hair yet only Kid Flash used to have freckles. Mas y Menos had no freckles and their red hair was slightly darker. While Kid Flash had green eyes, Mas y Menos had light brown eyes, that if you didn't know any better, would have thought were hazel.
"Todavía pienso que es ridículo que nosotros tenemos que aprender inglés y ellos no tratan a aprender español. ¿Son tan estúpidos?" (I still think it's stupid that we have to learn English when they won't just learn Spanish. Are they that stupid?) Menos basically stated more than asked his twin brother.
Mas shrugged before answering back, "Se parece que sí. El español no es tan difícil." (Apparently so. I mean, Spanish isn't that hard.)
All along the way to the Common Room, the two brothers spoke about how stupid it was that they had to learn English but in return, no one learned Spanish. Both knew that is was actually beneficial for themselves to learn English, but they still were young and so still saw it unfair and thought that made the others weren't as smart as they thought.
-Somewhere Else-
Bee sat in her room, more specifically at her desk as she was putting everything financially together, along with other paperwork. In the beginning, she was grumbling under her breath about how unfair it was, but finally got over it…mostly. She still grumbled a little, but not as bad as before.
She leaned back for a moment and rubbed her eyes tiredly, muttering, "At this rate, I'm going to need reading glasses."
With a sigh, she leaned back forward but before she even picked up her pencil, her laptop beeped meaning someone was trying to get through to her. "THANK THE HEAVENS!" Bee basically screamed, this call, whoever it was, just saved her, for a little bit anyways, from paperwork.
Opening up her laptop, that had a black and see-through bumblebee on the front and had a yellow light shining through it, she instantly saw it was the secure network Cyborg had set up between Titans. Her attitude instantly got serious and she opened up the connection to see Robin's face, except, he wasn't wearing his mask at the moment so she could clearly see his troubled blue eyes.
Now, only Titans East, Titans West, and a select few Honorary Titans actually knew Robin's real identity, but it still came to them as a shock of his brilliant eyes or just who he was. Bee looked at him and asked with a slight worried look, "What happened? On a scale 1 to 10, how bad is it? 1 being Dr. Light is here, 10 being a certain person came back but betrayed everyone, especially Saffire and now you need my help."
Robin rolled his eyes at her but smiled slightly at her reaction. She made a great leader, and he was glad she was leading Titans East. "It's honestly not that bad, just kind of a nuisance more than anything. I'll forward you the email I received, and after you read it, I'll explain everything." Robin told her, while forwarding the email to her.
Upon opening the email, her eyebrows rose slightly upon seeing the Presidential Seal and the signature of the President and the Presidential Cabinet. She started reading the letter silently to herself and her eyebrows rose further. Finally, when she reached the end, she looked up at Robin and saw he had a slight grim look on his face. Bee whispered to him, "So what does this mean?"
"It means we have to do this or face the consequences. Now, all of Titans West is going, though Cyborg will be working as a Supervisor, I need 4 from Titans East and 4 Honorary Titans. With the new additions you have picked up along the way, it shouldn't be too hard if you are missing 4. And if you do have trouble, I will send some Honorary Titans to help." Robin told her, trying to reassure her.
"What about Jump City and the West coast? How will you guys do?" Bee asked, still slightly in shock but making sure the cities will be safe.
Robin sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "I've already figured out a schedule of some sort of how we will deal with it, before and after. But during…we'll have to improvise. Only certain people know what we are actually doing and the President wishes to keep it that way."
Bee nodded her head in understanding. A thought popped into her head and she asked, "Do you know who you are actually going to call or invite to join you?"
Robin nodded before telling her, "After talking to you and making sure that the certain Titans I ask for from you are on their way, I'm going to go ahead and call those certain Honorary Titans and invite them to join me. Though, if they do say no, I think I might have to resort to ordering them here, but I doubt I will have to."
It was a well -known fact that Robin was such a great leader that most of the time he didn't have to order anyone really. It wasn't a well-known fact though, that Robin actually almost hated ordering others. But when the situation was as serious as this, if they said no, he would order them. Robin prided himself a little in knowing that he gave his Titans free will on basically everything but even with free will, they still knew he was the leader and they mostly listened to him.
Bee nodded in understanding. She fully understood the weight of the situation and she was happy to help, but she was also happy it was Robin that had to deal with it and not her. "What Titans do you need from me?" Bee asked the million dollar question.
Robin sighed before telling her, "Well…I need Faira, Rose, Auna, and Speedy."
One the outside Bee's eyebrows rose slightly as he listed all her new heroes and only 1 of her regular. Yet on the inside, her heart broke at how many of her Titans were leaving, yet Robin didn't know that. She guessed it made sense because if they had left the new heroes and only 1 regular hero behind, they might have had a harder time with the criminals. "I understand the girls, but why Speedy?"
Robin's left eye twitched once as it does when someone mentions a rival of his. The rivalry wasn't as bad as it was in the beginning as Speedy now had his eyes on someone else besides Starfire which relieved Robin to no end. "Well, he's a good fighter but you guys are probably able to deal without him the most. That and well, Rose is going so I would expect him to want to go. Plus," Robin paused for a second as his left eye suddenly twitched uncontrollably but luckily he got it under control before continuing, "As much as I hate that he's this way, there will be a bunch of new girls for him."
Bee nodded at the last statement; it was a very well-known fact that Speedy was a player. Though he was slowly changing his ways and not hooking up with a bunch of girls as often. It was evident, to Bee and Robin anyway, that he was actually trying to correct his usual ways.
Bee looked at Robin, as he tried to get his left twitching eye back under control once again, and said, "Alright, I'll call a short meeting, tell them everyth-"
Bee was cut off as Robin shook his head and said, "No, once everyone is here in Titans West Tower, I will read the letter out loud to everyone. Just tell them to pack their belongings, some uniforms, and some of their clothes. Send them out with a car and if Speedy wants, he can take his motorcycle. I already think the girls will go shopping soon anyway, so that works."
Bee raised her eyebrow at the statement before smirking and asking, "I'm guessing they're going shopping for prank supplies aren't they?"
Robin grumbled a little before saying, "Yes they are, and when they find out we are going to a new school which will have new targets for them, they will probably buy 4 times more than they normally do. Along with that, they'll be getting school supplies and clothing along with other necessities."
Bee's smirked widened slightly as she stated, "You do know, there will probably be lots of detention, probably some suspension, and a whole lot of trouble with them. And don't forget, I'm sending over 2 more girls that just help make it worse."
Robin groaned and Bee watched as he basically slammed his head on his desk as she laughed at his soon to be misery, glad that he would have to deal with it.
Internally though, they were both relieved that the tense moment was broken. Even though they weren't in the same room, it was a very tense moment for either of them. This was basically what they used the girls for; comedy reliefs, tension breakers, and helping people smile no matter what.
-Common Room-
Mas and Menos were already in the Common Room when Bee had called the meeting for everyone to meet there. They were just turning on the game console when the speaker had beeped to life and Bee's voice rang throughout the tower saying, "All Titans please report to the Common Room. I repeat, all Titans please report to the Common Room. Yes Speedy, that means you too."
Mas and Menos had basically ignored the message as they were already at the destination, and continued to talk in Spanish to each other about how the others probably weren't as smart as they thought. In reality, they were acting their age, but at the same time they knew the truth.
The two red headed twins didn't have to wait long as almost everyone, besides Aqualad, entered the room. Speedy and Rose didn't have time to go to their respective rooms to change so they both had towels around their necks and were wiping off some sweat while drinking water. Faira was slightly in the same state but she wasn't sweating as much as she had just begun to work out when they were called to the Common Room.
Auna had just put on her work out uniform when the announcement had sounded throughout the tower. She was the only one that had changed during that time frame. Her golden brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she had a black headband on that kept the stray hairs out of her face. She had managed to have on light blue running shorts that had a white stripe going down the side and had on a white sports bra. The young heroine held her blue and white running shoes in one hand while her feet had on white sports socks.
"Where's Aqualad?" Bee broke the silence by asking a question while also looking at her makeshift family.
The team shrugged and Bee sighed in irritation. Sometimes her team was just helpless but at the same time it wasn't their fault. As their leader, Bee felt it was her duty to know where all of her team mates were at the time. Taking an educated guess, Bee thought about how Aqualad might be in the ocean swimming.
Bee knew that recently, Aqualad had been more stressed out than usual but didn't press him on the matter. Titans East knew that if they had a problem, Bee's and Aqualad's doors were always open. Sometimes even Speedy's door was open, yet rarely anyone took that seriously except for the twins.
"Let's just wait for a little bit; Aqualad is probably just getting out of the ocean from swimming." Bee said, not giving anything away about what the meeting was about.
The Titans took a seat on the huge half circled shaped couch as they waited a little bit for Aqualad to show up. They knew it would take him time to get to shore, dry off, and possibly change before he got there. During the time, each of them were in their own world, except for the twins who were still talking to each other in hushed whispers in Spanish.
Speedy looked at the pair and smiled softly to himself, though no one noticed. Out of the Titans, it had come to a bit of a surprise when it was Speedy who the two speedsters bonded with the most. They had all expected it to be Aqualad as he had better chance understanding Spanish but that didn't matter to the two youngest Titans.
The first couple of months, Mas and Menos were basically almost terrified of the new environment they were in. They could hardly get any sleep and they refused to sleep in their own beds, sometimes even their own rooms, opting for the Common Room instead. When that happened, it finally occurred to the others that they were just children even if they were superheroes. It was almost like a slap to the older Titans' faces for being so inconsiderate of the younger males and thinking they would instantly adjust to the new setting.
At first, they had just tried to make everything more kid friendly or just try to get to know them better but it was Speedy who made the break through.
One of the coldest nights in Steel City, it even almost beat record temperatures, the twins were in the Common Room, sleeping on the couch, as they had snuck out of bed. But they had made the mistake of thinking that it would be warm enough with just the heater and hadn't brought a blanket and they were too scared to even get up and grab on. Since the tower was so big, it was usually only the bedrooms that really got any heat from the heater though the other rooms were kept above freezing at least. For almost half an hour, they laid there, shivering and trying to share body heat. But suddenly, the Common Room doors had opened to reveal Speedy with his arms full of blankets and pillows.
It was Speedy who tried his hardest to learn Spanish so he could understand the boys and help them with their English. It was also Speedy, who that very night, became their hero and helped them basically make a blanket and pillow fort and slept with them. It had been Speedy who had gotten them started with their English. And finally, yet most importantly, it was Speedy who had comforted them through all their fears and nightmares and became the big brother that they so desperately needed.
After that first night, Mas and Menos became closer with the other original Titans East members and it brought them closer, not only as a team, but also as a family.
Speedy hadn't realized he was basically staring at his two younger brothers until they were in front of him, messing up his sweaty hair. Speedy mock scowled and swatted their hands away, yet they only gave him fake innocent smile. Rolling his eyes, the young archer gave them a smile which they happily returned and fist bumped him.
Bee smiled softly, and secretly, at the scene before her. These were her boys. Not Robin's boys, not just heroes, not just teenagers, and not just Titans; this was her family.
With those thoughts, Bee's heart somehow broke even farther as she thought of what news she was about to deliver, though her outward appearance gave nothing away.
Rose smiled at just everything around her, which caused the plants outside to become a little greener and the flowers to have brighter of a color, while also healing any ripped, torn, broken, or almost dead plants in a 2 mile radius. Rose's powers were that she could control plants, which was kind of a dead giveaway because of her name. Her powers specifically allowed her to control plants, heal plants, and make new plants, which surprisingly came in handy a lot. Plus, if she wanted to, she could have an amazing job at a Plant Nursery. Though sometimes, if she was really content and/or happy, like right now as she watched her family interact, her powers activated on their own.
Auna was twirling a pencil in her hand when she grabbed a sketch pad that was lying on the floor and started sketching. It was her powers, as well as her passion, to draw. As Auna's powers were that she could bring her drawings to life, she had to practice a lot to be able to draw things correctly; and also to be able to do it quickly as villains usually didn't wait.
Faira was starting to get a little impatient and started to bounce her leg up and down. Out of sheer boredom, for the moment at least, Faira started to pull weird faces at nothing in particular. Without meaning to, Faira had gained the attention of the 3 immature boys in the room and they watched in fascination. Even after having Faira on the team for as long as they have, it didn't stop them from being amazed at the faces she was able to pull.
Just as Faira pulled a face where only one of her eyes was crossed and her tongue was folded in two places, the door hissed open revealing Aqualad. Even though he was dressed in a completely new outfit, his hair still dripped a bit of water onto the carpet and the back of his shirt. He was adorning a navy blue V-neck shirt and a regular pair of blue jeans. It was something that he regularly wore so it wasn't really a shock. As usually, he wasn't wearing any shoes as his feet were so calloused that he could probably even walk on hot coal or even broken glass without shoes and it wouldn't even leave a scratch or mark.
As Aqualad walked to the couch and the door had hissed shut, Bee cleared her throat, which instantly got everyone's attention on her, though for some, it wasn't their full attention. For example, Auna continued to draw, Speedy kind of just stared at the ceiling uninterested, and the twins were still exchanging some comments in Spanish. Though thankfully, Faira had stopped pulling faces, so that distraction was gone.
For the first time in a long time, Bee was slightly nervous about the news she was about to deliver. Usually, news was news and they all accepted it, but she usually explained the reason behind the things they were supposed to do. But this time, she couldn't reveal any details as Robin had asked for her not to. Plus, this was the first time she was sending off about half of her team for longer than just a couple of weeks and it had already broken her heart to split her family at just the thought, but she, sadly, had no say in the matter.
Swallowing and taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Bee started, "Well guys, I have some news. I don't particularly know if it's good or bad news, so for right now it is just news."
Aqualad frowned at her beginning statement, already not liking where this was going.
Speedy still had the same goofy grin in place but his eyes showed that he was now serious and had his full attention on his leader.
Mas and Menos stopped talking all together and now had their absolute attention on her.
Rose frowned softly but didn't say anything as she didn't know everything yet to make an assumption.
Faira just basically stared blankly at her leader.
Auna stopped sketching and set the notepad and pencil down.
Bee swallowed again before continuing, "I can't give you details right now as Robin has asked me to wait until the people he needed were all gathered in one place. But to put it simply, Auna, Faira, Rose, and Speedy are to go to Titans West Tower and stay there for 9 months. They are to pack all their belongings except for furniture and you don't really have to take any clothes except take a couple pairs of your uniform and some of your favorite pieces of clothing but nothing else as when you get there, you'll probably go shopping. You will have to leave in a couple of hours."
Her answer was silence. Then they blinked. Then they blinked again. Finally, after the third blink, everyone basically broke out into conversation. "Bee, you can't be serious, that half our team, what if-"
"Now Bee, I know I cause trouble but to send us all away-"
"¡No puedes hacer eso!" (You can't do that!)
"That's not fair! Why do we have to go?! This is our family-"
Surprisingly, Rose and Faira remained quiet until the others quieted down. Rose finally spoke, "Now Bee, this isn't like you. I'm sure that you have a good reason for all of this, but by respecting Robin's wishes you can't tell us. Am I right?"
Bee smiled at Rose for her not bursting out or jumping to conclusions. Her smile dropped though and she sighed heavily as she said, "Guys…this had already broken my heart just by thinking about it…please don't make it any more difficult. You guys know that you are my family but this situation is too serious and I can't risk disobeying. I'm really sorry."
Everyone in the room knew how hard this was on Bee. She had struggled to keep this team together in the beginning, she had struggled to become a better leader, and now she was struggling not to cry as she watched her family be broken apart. Rose wordlessly stepped forward and hugged Bee as Bee tried to fight the tears.
Speedy stepped forward next which came as a slight shock to the 2 other girls, but not to the original Titans East. Rose stepped back, and if it had been any other time she would have blushed and maybe stumbled, but at the moment she was dead serious. Gently, Speedy grabbed Bee's chin and forced her to look him in the eye. "Karen, we might be separated for a bit, but we will always be family. We are your boys, and they are your girls, we will always come back to you okay? Don't worry about us."
Bee couldn't handle it and burst into tears, hugging Speedy close. To keep their identities a secret, they rarely said their first names yet they all knew each-others' real names. To use their birth name, like what Speedy did to Bee, it meant this was serious. "I-I know Roy…but i-it hurts so m-much…" Bee managed to say through her tears.
Wordlessly, Aqualad stood next to Speedy, ready for Speedy to give him Bee. Roy's eyes softened and he kissed the top of Bee's head before gently prying away her arms and handing her to Aqualad.
Aqualad stared as Roy motioned for the others in the room to go get packing while Aqualad tried to settle Bee down. Aqualad sighed and sat down, bringing Bee into his lap and started rubbing her back soothingly.
Once out of the room, the 3 girls wordlessly just headed to their rooms to go back their stuff. Speedy kneeled on the ground and turned around, opening his arms. As soon as his arms were open, two blurs raced into his arms clutching him.
With strength that came with being a hero, Speedy stood up with the two twins in each arm and carried them to his room. Even though Mas and Menos were too old to be carried, this was one of those times that they just needed this one thing. The only sound that filled the tower was the sounds of a heartbroken leader sobbing into the shoulder of her Vice Leader, and the sobs of two young speedsters, sobbing into the shoulder of their big brother. But unbeknownst to them, there was a third heroine that was crying as this was finally her family too. She silently cried in her room as she packed her belongings, thinking back to her older brother Mark and how he was now gone. As the young heroine cried over her lost brother, she subconsciously clutched her rose necklace in a white-knuckled grip.
None of the crying participants calmed down for a good 30 minutes. And even then, a couple of tears would leak out.
-3 Hours Later-
Speedy stood with Faira, Auna, and Rose in the garage and he closed the trunk of the car that they would be taking to the Titans West tower. It had taken them all a good 2 hours to just pack all of their belongings in suit cases, it took 10 minutes to put in the trunk of the car, and then it took 20 minutes just to say goodbye.
"I guess this is goodbye." Auna said in almost a depressed tone, very unlike how she usually talks.
"This isn't goodbye. Goodbye means we won't see you in a very long time. You should be saying 'see you later', because we will see you all soon." Aqualad said, hoping to lighten the mood.
Miraculously, it brought small smiles to everyone's face. Bee's, Mas', Menos', and surprisingly even Rose's eyes were slightly red and puffy from all the crying but it looked like they had accepted the facts.
Speedy kneeled one last time in front of his twin little brother and embraced them whispering, "Don't worry guys, I'm just one phone call away at all times. And if worse comes to worse, I can ask Raven to teleport me over here."
Bee smiled sadly at the scene. Out of everyone, the twins looked like they took the hardest hit from what was happening. But in reality, it was Speedy who was suffering the most.
Speedy had left Green Arrow and was alone for a while until he joined Titans East. They filled the empty void in his heart and he was filled with joy and love. He had gained 3 sisters, a best friend/brother, 2 twin little brothers, and a crush. But now he was being uprooted once again; he had to leave behind his best friend, his little brothers, and a sister. All of who were the first of his very large family.
Bee and Aqualad both knew that Speedy refused to cry in front of the twins, so they knew he would cry either when they took a stop to sleep, as the trip was 2 to 3 days long, or he would cry when he got there. Though if he was asked, he would blatantly lie about the fact that he cried at all.
The young speedsters nodded and released him. Rose was slightly teary eyed, once again, but she didn't want to cry again, until she at least got to Titans West Tower, or at least where no one could see her. Faira had an expressionless look on her face but her eyes showed her sorrow that she refused to let the others see. Auna was silent and just walked to the drivers' seat and started the car, trying to act strong for the others.
Auna was usually very emotional and very open about being so emotional, but during times like this, she felt the need to be strong. She felt the need to shut off her emotions, even if it only allowed her to make it to a hotel/motel before she would start to breakdown. Auna was smart enough to know that once she started crying, she wouldn't be able to stop for a while and right now, they needed to start heading to Titans West Tower. The sooner they got there, hopefully the sooner they could come back.
Reluctantly, the 2 girls joined Auna but Speedy mounted his bike and put on his helmet. Without a look back, for fear she wouldn't leave or she would breakdown right then and there, Auna left the Tower through the underground tunnel without a backwards glance.
Speedy turned to his family, his real family and smiled before saying, "Don't worry guys, I'll be in touch and we'll all be back before you know it."
With that said he revved his engine of his custom motorcycle, flipped down his face cover, and sped off into the tunnel. Bee quickly went back upstairs, literally taking the stairs as she needed to think and she didn't want them to see her cry. Already, Mas and Menos were in Speedy's room on top of his bed, hugging each other and crying as they had used their powers to get there. The two young speedsters didn't even seem to notice or care that their clothes were singed and their clothes were now permanently ruined.
Aqualad stared down the tunnel and asked brokenly, "Then why aren't you back yet?"
The heart broken hero received no answer.
I'm sorry! Please don't kill me for the angst!
(*1*) -Basically what it says, For Narnia.
(*2*) -Lord of the Rings joke. Legolas is the blonde elf archer. And I have yet to ever see his hair out of place, even after/during a battle!
(*3*) -Basically just replace Speedy with Batman.
(*4*) -It's a Danny Phantom reference. Whenever the main character, Danny, turns into a ghost, he always yells "I'm going ghost!"
Now for the song while he's pulling out the arrows, I actually want to know how many of you actually sang it. I know I did while I was writing it. I got some funny looks.
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! Also, I might change the first chapter to show which characters are still here, who they are with, and what grade they will be in.
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-Saffire
