Ch. 7
Meeting in the Courtyard
Dark lay on the ground of the courtyard behind the giant T. He rested his head on a large maple tree, and had Kit running and playing around him. Hours had passed since he had talked to Starfire, and given her the message. Any moment now, Dark expected, Raven to emerge from the horizon.
"Grr. Oh you mean dog, err!" Dark played with Kit, using his hand and making small little attacks to the dogs ears and neck. The pup would leap forward and attack one of his fingers, and at which time felt triumphant as she paraded around him with her head held high.
Dark laughed and petted the energetic dog, Kit leapt up and got a small tongue on Dark's cheek which made him chuckle all the more. He felt joy now, like none he had ever felt before, or at least for some time.
"Y-You wanted to meet me here?" Raven asked, her voice behind him. Surprised, Dark jumped up and turned to face her. Kit bounced around and waddled beside Dark, and sat beside his foot.
"Yes, I apologize that most of this conversation will not be on a – shall we say –friendly level."
Raven took a step back and clenched one of her fists; she was prepared for anything. Seeing Raven like this, made Dark step back, then answer quickly.
"No, my dear Raven, not like that. More or less, this conversation would be a briefing of the events to come. As much as I would love to chat about the wonders of the human mind, and the darkening world, that will have to wait."
Raven lowered her guard, and hid her hands beneath her blue cloak. She hid the fact that she felt feelings for Dark. The other Titan's rarely talked to Raven, unless on an account of danger or on the rare occasion of loneliness. To have someone eventually wanting to talk about what she had been studying and learning about since the day she arrived, made her show a glimmer of a grin within her.
"Alright, Dark, talk. What do you want from me?"
Dark nodded, then floated up in the air, sitting in the meditation stature that Raven had been for everyday for at least an hour. Raven followed, she lifted herself, crossed her legs and rested her arms on her knees.
Kit remained on the ground; she stared up at Dark and gave him a look of deprivation of attention. The grand puppy dog eyes rolled up at him, as she soon lay on the ground and sighed to herself.
"Now then, two things I wish of you in the future. The first, being that when the time comes you will take Starfire to a safe place, and if you must make your last stand against Blackfire."
Raven cocked an eyebrow in the hood that darkened her face. "What are you talking about?"
"You do know that Blackfire will return here once she is finished with Tamaranian soil? Well, when that time comes, which will be within the week, I need you," Dark pointed at Raven, "to defend Starfire, if needs be."
"Fine," Raven whined, "and the second?"
"The second is that I need you to get Starfire to meditate with you, for most of the days to come. Leaving you with no interruptions and peace for the next few days. What I really need from you though, is to expand your power while you are meditating. Find the calm and unleash the power within without realizing it. If you can accomplish that, and extend your power to its full extent when near asleep, imagine to strength when enraged." To Raven he sounded a little sadistic when speaking of power through meditation. Although, his planet's population was almost destroyed in a mere few hours, and only somewhere around six hundred remained. She didn't blame him.
"Alright, I'll get her to meditate, but have no one disturb us while we're in my room. No one enters my room."
"Oh, I was- hoping that you'd do this in the courtyard. Should your powers become so great that the room be desecrated then we'd prefer to do this outside. I'll keep watch over both of you, making sure no one comes within the fifty foot mark." Raven gave Dark the lowered eyelid look. Then answered.
"Fine then."
"This is all the main things I wished from you? Do you wish to talk normally now?" Dark asked.
"That would be – fun." She answered, slowly.
Dark asked her his first question to get everything going. "Why did you ask Starfire what I thought of you?"
Taken aback Raven looked down a little, then answered his question. "I just wanted to know. You've been stalking us for this long; you've kept some tabs on each of us, around the clock. Now you show up, and everyone is a little nervous around you. Sure you brought Kit around relieved us of some nerve of fear of what you may do but that is not enough. Realize that we fear that you know what are secrets are. Thinking of that before I asked Starfire, I asked her what you thought of me. You happy?"
Now it was Dark's turn to be taken aback. "I see. Let me tell you know that I only had tabs on your vitality, and sometimes your outdoor life, not a whole lot of the inside life. I can only see through windows you know. So all I had to go from was the communication with those around the city and Aqua lad." Raven remembered Aqua lad well; she had fallen instantly for him despite his personality.
"Alright then, I guess now we have nothing to fear. Now for my question."
"Shoot."
"You don't seem all that protective of Starfire now, why are you so lax. At being a bodyguard you aren't very good at it."
"I have little to fear, her room has no windows, and would take some sort of miracle to get through other than the door. On top of that, very few enemies could pose any threat to you now, not even Slade. And the Titans protect her to a degree as well, until Slade's men return and make their movements around the city, I will be on full patrol of Starfire. Don't you worry. Now, my questioning. How often does Starfire Meditate with you? I've watched the puppet master control you at that time, and saw you both meditating before running off to the mall."
Raven looked to the side as she answered. "Since that day we have known a gentle understanding of one another. It is true that we are friends, but that has been the first of maybe a handful of times Starfire and I have meditated for a short period of time."
"So not very much, I take it?"
"No."
Dark sighed, "This will be much harder than I thought."
"That it will be," Raven looked at Dark and asked her next question, "what is your relation to Starfire?"
Dark smirked, and leaned closer, took a breath and replied. "We were basically neighborhood friends. You know the relationship between next door neighborhoods right? Well, it branched off from that, just playing pretend, flying around town, laughing, playing, and having as much fun as possible. Until I reached the age of ten when all the other young boys had to leave for at least a four year service in the military. The females on the other hand are either bred to the elder military that had retired, or are hailed as princesses for the rest of their lives. Fortunately for Starfire, which I had little doubt, she became of high value. As did her sister, Blackfire.
"Starfire wrote me letters on how she was enjoying her life being rich, but still kept her good charm. Whereas Blackfire on the other hand became snooty, and rotten. Few years later, we've been writing to one another, and soon she told me that she was leaving for this haven known as Earth. Well, truthfully, as I have slightly lied to Starfire about this, I was selected to go keep an eye on her."
"Because she was a princess in your peoples eyes?"
"Exactly. Honestly, I was promoted to being a captain at that time, highest ranking in my classes, and excelled in every department the military had to offer. They found my secret correspondent to be her, and found that it should be me sent down there to protect and watch her. She and I knew one another well, and it would be much easier to cope with than having to hear a Colonel argue about her motives on life. Therefore, the whole pleading to get down here was a lie. To answer your question, I will leave you with this. At the station where we went our separate ways, we said that we loved one another. As I've watched from the balcony of this gigantic building, and seen what others have said to one another, Love is in different forms. You see, on Tamaran, when a girl such as Starfire were to express love, this would mean nothing more than a possible marriage and sacred bond between the two, for eternity. It is on our planet the female's choice, and if she chose it to be wrong, for eternity they are bonded. For her to speak of love that early in life means much to me. But now, Robin has taken her sight, and she is bound to choose between a leader, and a neighbor. Whomever she chooses I will be happy for her, I only pray that she makes the right choice."
Hearing the long speech made Raven's eyes widen; Tamaran was indeed a good place. Somewhat better than Earth. Raven looked down, and nodded in agreement.
"I have no further questions, Raven. Do you wish to ask more?" Dark asked, lowering himself to the ground, and putting a hand on Kit's back awakening her from her light nap.
"Only a few more. Why didn't you face Robin with all your skill? Why did you present you self now? Do you love Starfire back? What will happen when Blackfire come here?"
Dark looked up, and answered. "I did not face Robin to my full extent because rivalry is good to have, Robin means only to claim his greatness over me. To claim Starfire. I gave him hope, that he could one day defeat me. It seems Starfire told you about my training this morning, no?
"I presented my self now because earlier I did not feel it to be time. Sure you had your tough times to fight through, you could easily handle it with little blood shed from either of you. You may be battered but an open wound has never crossed any of you, yet.
"I do love Starfire, I've loved her since the day we met. Little can I explain the greatness of her beauty, her radiance, and her eyes. She was beyond me, and at times I wondered why she had always written back to me, I wondered why she kept on going with me. I knew I could never match her elegance, grace, and above all spirit. Like I said she was beyond me, beyond what I could have ever wished, or wanted. And so, I remembered the moments at the station, assuring myself that she loved me, and that was all the mattered." A concealed tear ran down Dark's face slowly, Raven saw it clearly. Dark held it back, but did not wipe it away; he acted as if it wasn't there.
"When Blackfire gets here, at least Robin and I will be the frontal force that will weaken Blackfire the most. The Beastboy and Cyborg will be the second line of defense, if needed. And like I said, you and Starfire will be the final defense of this world, if needs be. By then, Blackfire will be substantially weakened, and if you must you and Starfire will defeat Blackfire and conquer over her broken corpse. Though, with all my heart I doubt that it will come down to only you and Starfire."
"You know that I would abide by that will of yours. But know that I cannot abandon my friends to death. I will fight along side you, as will the others." Raven said, floating to the ground and standing tall.
"I understand. But you realize that with all of us, the six of us fighting Slade's warriors, possibly Terra, and Blackfire will not be easy, this will require strategy, and perfection. I must admit that you are a little unorganized when fighting together. You will get the job done, but you need time. This battle you will only have one shot, two at most in the same battle."
"Hmm. I see your point. Starfire and I will return shortly, you wait here." Raven instructed, walking way slowly and back off into the horizon.
"Raven is much smarter than I thought she would be, I have underestimated her." Dark said, playing with Kit once again.
Dark lay on the ground of the courtyard behind the giant T. He rested his head on a large maple tree, and had Kit running and playing around him. Hours had passed since he had talked to Starfire, and given her the message. Any moment now, Dark expected, Raven to emerge from the horizon.
"Grr. Oh you mean dog, err!" Dark played with Kit, using his hand and making small little attacks to the dogs ears and neck. The pup would leap forward and attack one of his fingers, and at which time felt triumphant as she paraded around him with her head held high.
Dark laughed and petted the energetic dog, Kit leapt up and got a small tongue on Dark's cheek which made him chuckle all the more. He felt joy now, like none he had ever felt before, or at least for some time.
"Y-You wanted to meet me here?" Raven asked, her voice behind him. Surprised, Dark jumped up and turned to face her. Kit bounced around and waddled beside Dark, and sat beside his foot.
"Yes, I apologize that most of this conversation will not be on a – shall we say –friendly level."
Raven took a step back and clenched one of her fists; she was prepared for anything. Seeing Raven like this, made Dark step back, then answer quickly.
"No, my dear Raven, not like that. More or less, this conversation would be a briefing of the events to come. As much as I would love to chat about the wonders of the human mind, and the darkening world, that will have to wait."
Raven lowered her guard, and hid her hands beneath her blue cloak. She hid the fact that she felt feelings for Dark. The other Titan's rarely talked to Raven, unless on an account of danger or on the rare occasion of loneliness. To have someone eventually wanting to talk about what she had been studying and learning about since the day she arrived, made her show a glimmer of a grin within her.
"Alright, Dark, talk. What do you want from me?"
Dark nodded, then floated up in the air, sitting in the meditation stature that Raven had been for everyday for at least an hour. Raven followed, she lifted herself, crossed her legs and rested her arms on her knees.
Kit remained on the ground; she stared up at Dark and gave him a look of deprivation of attention. The grand puppy dog eyes rolled up at him, as she soon lay on the ground and sighed to herself.
"Now then, two things I wish of you in the future. The first, being that when the time comes you will take Starfire to a safe place, and if you must make your last stand against Blackfire."
Raven cocked an eyebrow in the hood that darkened her face. "What are you talking about?"
"You do know that Blackfire will return here once she is finished with Tamaranian soil? Well, when that time comes, which will be within the week, I need you," Dark pointed at Raven, "to defend Starfire, if needs be."
"Fine," Raven whined, "and the second?"
"The second is that I need you to get Starfire to meditate with you, for most of the days to come. Leaving you with no interruptions and peace for the next few days. What I really need from you though, is to expand your power while you are meditating. Find the calm and unleash the power within without realizing it. If you can accomplish that, and extend your power to its full extent when near asleep, imagine to strength when enraged." To Raven he sounded a little sadistic when speaking of power through meditation. Although, his planet's population was almost destroyed in a mere few hours, and only somewhere around six hundred remained. She didn't blame him.
"Alright, I'll get her to meditate, but have no one disturb us while we're in my room. No one enters my room."
"Oh, I was- hoping that you'd do this in the courtyard. Should your powers become so great that the room be desecrated then we'd prefer to do this outside. I'll keep watch over both of you, making sure no one comes within the fifty foot mark." Raven gave Dark the lowered eyelid look. Then answered.
"Fine then."
"This is all the main things I wished from you? Do you wish to talk normally now?" Dark asked.
"That would be – fun." She answered, slowly.
Dark asked her his first question to get everything going. "Why did you ask Starfire what I thought of you?"
Taken aback Raven looked down a little, then answered his question. "I just wanted to know. You've been stalking us for this long; you've kept some tabs on each of us, around the clock. Now you show up, and everyone is a little nervous around you. Sure you brought Kit around relieved us of some nerve of fear of what you may do but that is not enough. Realize that we fear that you know what are secrets are. Thinking of that before I asked Starfire, I asked her what you thought of me. You happy?"
Now it was Dark's turn to be taken aback. "I see. Let me tell you know that I only had tabs on your vitality, and sometimes your outdoor life, not a whole lot of the inside life. I can only see through windows you know. So all I had to go from was the communication with those around the city and Aqua lad." Raven remembered Aqua lad well; she had fallen instantly for him despite his personality.
"Alright then, I guess now we have nothing to fear. Now for my question."
"Shoot."
"You don't seem all that protective of Starfire now, why are you so lax. At being a bodyguard you aren't very good at it."
"I have little to fear, her room has no windows, and would take some sort of miracle to get through other than the door. On top of that, very few enemies could pose any threat to you now, not even Slade. And the Titans protect her to a degree as well, until Slade's men return and make their movements around the city, I will be on full patrol of Starfire. Don't you worry. Now, my questioning. How often does Starfire Meditate with you? I've watched the puppet master control you at that time, and saw you both meditating before running off to the mall."
Raven looked to the side as she answered. "Since that day we have known a gentle understanding of one another. It is true that we are friends, but that has been the first of maybe a handful of times Starfire and I have meditated for a short period of time."
"So not very much, I take it?"
"No."
Dark sighed, "This will be much harder than I thought."
"That it will be," Raven looked at Dark and asked her next question, "what is your relation to Starfire?"
Dark smirked, and leaned closer, took a breath and replied. "We were basically neighborhood friends. You know the relationship between next door neighborhoods right? Well, it branched off from that, just playing pretend, flying around town, laughing, playing, and having as much fun as possible. Until I reached the age of ten when all the other young boys had to leave for at least a four year service in the military. The females on the other hand are either bred to the elder military that had retired, or are hailed as princesses for the rest of their lives. Fortunately for Starfire, which I had little doubt, she became of high value. As did her sister, Blackfire.
"Starfire wrote me letters on how she was enjoying her life being rich, but still kept her good charm. Whereas Blackfire on the other hand became snooty, and rotten. Few years later, we've been writing to one another, and soon she told me that she was leaving for this haven known as Earth. Well, truthfully, as I have slightly lied to Starfire about this, I was selected to go keep an eye on her."
"Because she was a princess in your peoples eyes?"
"Exactly. Honestly, I was promoted to being a captain at that time, highest ranking in my classes, and excelled in every department the military had to offer. They found my secret correspondent to be her, and found that it should be me sent down there to protect and watch her. She and I knew one another well, and it would be much easier to cope with than having to hear a Colonel argue about her motives on life. Therefore, the whole pleading to get down here was a lie. To answer your question, I will leave you with this. At the station where we went our separate ways, we said that we loved one another. As I've watched from the balcony of this gigantic building, and seen what others have said to one another, Love is in different forms. You see, on Tamaran, when a girl such as Starfire were to express love, this would mean nothing more than a possible marriage and sacred bond between the two, for eternity. It is on our planet the female's choice, and if she chose it to be wrong, for eternity they are bonded. For her to speak of love that early in life means much to me. But now, Robin has taken her sight, and she is bound to choose between a leader, and a neighbor. Whomever she chooses I will be happy for her, I only pray that she makes the right choice."
Hearing the long speech made Raven's eyes widen; Tamaran was indeed a good place. Somewhat better than Earth. Raven looked down, and nodded in agreement.
"I have no further questions, Raven. Do you wish to ask more?" Dark asked, lowering himself to the ground, and putting a hand on Kit's back awakening her from her light nap.
"Only a few more. Why didn't you face Robin with all your skill? Why did you present you self now? Do you love Starfire back? What will happen when Blackfire come here?"
Dark looked up, and answered. "I did not face Robin to my full extent because rivalry is good to have, Robin means only to claim his greatness over me. To claim Starfire. I gave him hope, that he could one day defeat me. It seems Starfire told you about my training this morning, no?
"I presented my self now because earlier I did not feel it to be time. Sure you had your tough times to fight through, you could easily handle it with little blood shed from either of you. You may be battered but an open wound has never crossed any of you, yet.
"I do love Starfire, I've loved her since the day we met. Little can I explain the greatness of her beauty, her radiance, and her eyes. She was beyond me, and at times I wondered why she had always written back to me, I wondered why she kept on going with me. I knew I could never match her elegance, grace, and above all spirit. Like I said she was beyond me, beyond what I could have ever wished, or wanted. And so, I remembered the moments at the station, assuring myself that she loved me, and that was all the mattered." A concealed tear ran down Dark's face slowly, Raven saw it clearly. Dark held it back, but did not wipe it away; he acted as if it wasn't there.
"When Blackfire gets here, at least Robin and I will be the frontal force that will weaken Blackfire the most. The Beastboy and Cyborg will be the second line of defense, if needed. And like I said, you and Starfire will be the final defense of this world, if needs be. By then, Blackfire will be substantially weakened, and if you must you and Starfire will defeat Blackfire and conquer over her broken corpse. Though, with all my heart I doubt that it will come down to only you and Starfire."
"You know that I would abide by that will of yours. But know that I cannot abandon my friends to death. I will fight along side you, as will the others." Raven said, floating to the ground and standing tall.
"I understand. But you realize that with all of us, the six of us fighting Slade's warriors, possibly Terra, and Blackfire will not be easy, this will require strategy, and perfection. I must admit that you are a little unorganized when fighting together. You will get the job done, but you need time. This battle you will only have one shot, two at most in the same battle."
"Hmm. I see your point. Starfire and I will return shortly, you wait here." Raven instructed, walking way slowly and back off into the horizon.
"Raven is much smarter than I thought she would be, I have underestimated her." Dark said, playing with Kit once again.
