No Author's Note today, but I am sorry for the delay. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY LIKE PREVIOUSLY PLANNED!

Shadows of the Future: A Few Simple Words

Chapter Ten: The Shock of a Lifetime (aka "What?")

Dedication: To my new friend Tiffany. May you always be you. I had no idea where that came from. But seriously, don't ever change, chica. I've got your back no matter what.

"Okay, so you have your dress, you don't have your shoes, you rented a limo- why don't we get to ride in one?" Terra whined. Starfire was paying her no attention, as she was focusing all of it on the bright autumn sunshine outside the huge bay window that doubled as a tv. Clouds floated across the startlingly bright blue sky, looking like cotton candy as they passed. Leaves skittered around on the ground below them, unheard by the inhabitants of Titans Tower. Three months before, on the occasion of Cyborg's twentieth birthday, the Teen Titans dropped the "Teen", and became the Titans. A month after Cyborg's birthday were Starfire and Robin's, Robin turning twenty and Starfire turning the same within days of her fiance.

The November breeze floated in through an open section of the window and stirred Starfire's hair around her face. A dreamy smile graced her features but faded fast as a wave of nausea washed over her. She fled from the room as Robin entered, drawings of the Nightwing costume in his hands. He looked after her in confusion then shrugged it off and sat down at the kitchen counter.

"Hey, Terra, Raven." he said, nodding at each of the girls who each grasped extremely long lists that contained details of the wedding. Almost every item on each list had been crossed off, except for a few select ones.

"Hey." Terra said, turning to get a bottle of water from the fridge. "Getting nervous?"

"Nah." Robin said, shaking his head and causing his spiked hair to fall into his eyes. He ran a hand through the spikes carelessly and tossed the drawings on the counter. Raven picked them up and looked over them.

"Nightwing?" she asked.

Robbin nodded. "I was gonna ask Star if I got the design of the suit right, but she ran out when I came in." (a/n: yes, Robin is planning on becoming Nightwing! You'll see soon how this is all gonna work out.)

"She's been spacing a lot lately. Like she's totally unaware that the two of you are getting married in a month." Terra replied, taking a swig of water and looking at the drawings over Raven's shoulder. "It's like she's off in la-la land."

"Like you should talk." Raven snorted. "Ever since Speedy got you pregnant, you've been all emotional and crap. Every time somebody tries to talk to you, you ask them if you think a baby name is cute. It's quite annoying really."

"Hey! Corky was cute!" Terra yelled in self-defense.

Robin laughed. "Yeah, for a pig."

"I dunno, I kinda like Bobbie May." Raven said with a smirk.

"Or Pastel or whatever it was."

"I thought it was Peyton, which actually isn't so bad."

"When she said George, I though Beast Boy would die laughing."

"And when she said Bruce, and you sprayed water all over Starfire-"

"That was not funny."

"Okay, can you please stop talking about me in third person?" Terra interjected, her eyes watering slightly and taking a big sniff. Robin and Raven each mumbled apologies, and the three sat in silence until the door opened again and Starfire entered the room, looking slightly pale and shaken. She wandered over and sat down on Robin's lap and looked at Terra and Raven expectantly.

"You okay?" Raven asked, looking at her as though she expected to see some weird sort of disease marking the Tamaranian girl's skin.

Starfire nodded. "Must've been something I ate. I'll be fine." she muttered, picking up one of the Nightwing drawings and looking it over. "This looks really good. How long have you been working on it?" Terra and Raven strained to hear her voice even though they were standing directly across from her. They looked at eachother in worry and then turned their attentions back to Starfire whose hands were now shaking so bad she had to put down the paper.

"'Bout a few days." Robin replied, rubbing her back. "You sure you're okay, Star?"

Starfire nodded in response, but Raven was the only one who notice a stray tear slip down her friend's face. "I'm fine. Lemme see your list, Terra." Terra shoved the list across the counter and took another sip of water, watching Starfire intently as she picked up a pen and crossed a few things off. The only things that remained were flowers and shoes. "Okay, so-"

"Hey, girl!" Bee yelled as she bounded into the room, a filmy white dress covered in plastic in her arms. Atop her head were Mickey Mouse ears. "Got your dress from the weird seamstress lady."

Starfire laughed. "Bee, why are you wearing Mickey Mouse ears?"

Bumble Bee looked up and crossed her eyes, as if trying to see the hat. "Man, I forgot Sparky put those on me. I wondered why everybody was looking at me all weird and crap. Oh well, celebrities do dumb stuff all the time." The others laughed, and she joined in good-naturedly. "The public'll get over it. It's not like Beast Boy doesn't do stupider stuff."

"Did you just compare yourself to Beast Boy?" Terra asked in shock.

Bee blushed. "Oops. Anyways, that lady was all 'Make sure she tries on the dress so I know that it fits.' So you gotta go try it on for us." Starfire's face flushed.

"Do I have to?" she squeeked. Everybody nodded and she sighed in defeat, getting up from Robin's lap and taking the dress from her friend's hands. As the door closed behind her, Robin stretched out his legs with a pained expression on his face.

"Man, I gotta make sure she quits eating all that chocolate. I swear she was never that heavy." he said after a few minutes.

"There is a logical explanation to it." Raven said after a minute or two. "Other than the chocolate."

Robin looked at her sharply. "What are you trying to say, Raven? That we're irresponsible?" he asked irritably.

"Nooo, I'm just saying that maybe-" Raven was cut short by Starfire sticking her head into the room.

"Robin, come here." she whispered. Robin glared at Raven who was watching him with an eyebrow raised. He got up and exited the room quickly to where Starfire was standing outside the doorway. She was clad in a simple, strapless white wedding gown that brushed the floor as she turned to look at him. Gold threaded designs on the bodice of the dress shimmered slightly in the dim lights of the corridor. Robin noticed that the dress strained slightly at her stomach where she had gained a few pounds in the past month or two, but he didn't really care. Her hair was tossed up in a messy bun and a smile was stuck on her face. As dorky as it sounded, Robin found himself falling in love with her again.

"Robin-" Starfire began.

"Wait, hold on, you're not pregnant are you?" Robin said, his eyes wide.

Starfire gasped in shock, her emerald orbs widened. "X'Hal no!" Robin sighed in relief. "However-"

Robin had a feeling that this wasn't going to be something he wanted to hear.

"However, a slight...situation has come up on Tamaran."

"What sort of situation?" Robin asked darkly. If this had anything to do with her having to marry some weird booger dude, he would definitely be having words with that Galfore guy.

Starfire giggled nervously. "Well...um...okay, you are gonna find this so funny when I get done telling you."

"Star, you're stalling."

Starfire sighed and the smile melted from her face. "This is gonna be really weird, but just bear with me, okay? Galfore...he's got the Gorflazian Measles."

"The what?"

"It's a disease that has no cure. It kills whoever it takes over. He's asked me to come back to Tamaran and rule, and to bring you with me. He wants us to rule Tamaran once we're married, Richard."

Robin's eyes widened behind his mask. "What?"

Ooooh! What's going to happen next? Dear X'Hal! I don't even know! I hoped ya'll liked the slight twist though!

BIG NEWS: I've decided to keep the story going from here. I'm also extending the two stories into a whole series. The next is going to be called Shadows of the Future: Shadows in Lace, or something along the lines of that. Review with any questions, comments, concerns, or requests for this, and I'll try to make sure your suggestions get worked into the plot!

Glafore's Gorflazian Measles are totally made up by the way. I had to do something, I felt the story was losing people's interest!

Anywho, please review!

-RupertLover09