I live! Well not really, but I'm back. Sorry about the long absence. Did anyone miss me? Lol, I doubt it but at least there's an update at last. Long painful holiday weeks. I actually trashed about three whole chapters of this story including the Christmas special. It just annoyed me. It got to the point where I was writing more to make up for lost time and get them released in time for Christmas. Crazy crazy shit. I finally just got annoyed and trashed those chapters in my junk file. So don't expect to ever see them in this story. I may release post them on my website if I ever decide to reopen it or they may be rewritten and turned into chapters for ReMiX. Just depends. Anyway, I feel that this chapter was a bit rushed and a bit boring, but it does set up events for the next chapter. Hope no one hates me for this chapter, but things are going to be getting better soon. Some good action sequences in the near future. Well I'll shut up cause no one is here to read my thoughts.
Teen Titans X
Written by: Juggalomalice
Chapter 10: Crossing Paths
Red X stood silent as he watched the rising sun as he always did from Titans Tower. A cold breeze blew past him foreshadowing the drastic drop in climate brought by the changing seasons. Almost two months had passed since Khalid and Jinx had joined the team and so much had changed since then that X almost found it hard to believe this whole thing was not some crazy dream. He half expected Starfire to wake him up any moment now and tell him he was just dreaming.
Starfire? He felt bad when he thought about her. She was a good friend and he knew very well that she was in love with him. Perhaps that was the reason why he regretted turning her away like he did so much? Because he knew he could never return the feelings she had for him back. "I wonder why I never fell in love with her." X caught himself asking. She was beautiful, funny, and understanding. Basically the perfect girl in most guys opinion. Regardless of how he looked at it he just didn't have those feelings for the alien girl. Now more then ever he was glad for that fact. He didn't know how to go about holding one flame in his heart, but now unexpectedly he was holding two. Adding Starfire to that list would just make his life that much more complicated.
X heard a door open and close behind him as he turned around to find Khalid standing there.
"Wasn't expecting to find you out here so earlier X." The white-haired apath spoke first.
"Likewise. I take it your search last night didn't go so well." The dark leader speculated.
"Yes. You would think after all these years I would be use to returning with no new evidence."
"You've been searching non-stop for several days now only returning back for missions. You must be exhausted. When was the last time you slept?" X asked with some genuine concern over Khalid's habit of overworking.
"Wednesday…"
"That's not so bad." X answered since Wednesday was just yesterday.
"Of last week." Khalid finished.
"Khalid, you really should rest. This is unhealthy."
"Health has never been a concern of mine." Khalid said plainly.
"You know very well what I mean." X said irritated. "You've been alive longer then any other person in the world and you spent you're whole life looking for a girl. Do you know how pathetic that sounds? Have you even tried to do anything else with your life besides search for her? Just think about the possibilities." X hadn't intended for his question to come out as an attack against Khalid, but as he reviewed his words he was surprised at how much it did sound like an attack.
Khalid stood silent and unfazed as he let X's words sink in. "Yes, I guess it does sound pathetic, but I have done much more then just search. I've thought of many possibilities in my life and after awhile you just get tired of thinking."
"What do you mean?" X asked rather confused
"I often would wake up and ask myself what my life had in store for me that day. I even tried to live a normal life a few times. Once I helped a friend of mine build and open a general goods store. He poured his whole life into that store. It was his dream. But two years later there was a fire and he and his store were burnt down. A lifetime of work brought down in one night. Another time I knew this man who worked his whole life so he could buy a ring to propose to girlfriend with. She died in a rockslide on the way to church where her marriage would be. All that work and effort wasted."
X was quiet as he listened unsure of what to say. He was caught off guard by this sudden speech about random events in Khalid's life. "Where is he going with all this?"
"Once I even spent over 50 years watching a jagged rock get smoothed out by a river and I asked myself 'why'."
"That's simple. Over the course of time the friction from the flowing water erodes the rock." X said rather scientifically.
"For such a smart person you miss the entire point of the question." Khalid said as he looked down at X. "Why does the rock exist if it is destined to sooner or later cease to exist? Does the rock know that no matter how hard it tries it will one day end? If it did know would it continue to exist trying so hard to define the way of the river or would it allow it's self to end right there and then? No matter how hard it tries in the end it doesn't matter."
X nodded his head finally understanding what Khalid was saying as the patterns of his pervious stories cam together. He was using the example of the rock and river as an analogy of human life. Like an extra piece in a chess game that stood on the side lines and watched the world fold out. Yet no matter how hard one side fights to win in the end it is swept aside to allow another game to begin.
"Your life must be a lot harder than most people would think at first." X admitted.
"Perhaps, but after so long I found myself not asking those questions as often. You'll never get anything done if you just think." Khalid mused.
"Still Khalid, haven't you ever wondered." X began still seeking answers.
"Wondered what?"
"You've looked for so long but never found this girl. What if she's not even alive anymore? Or worse what if she doesn't return your feelings? If that happens then what? It's not like you really have anything else in life to fall back on" X prodded,
"I don't know." Khalid answered without worry or care. "Just because I'm over 400 years old doesn't mean I know anything. I don't know the answer to any of the life's mysteries and I don't know what I would do if that happened. The only real truth I know is that after all these years I still love her and I just follow whatever truth I know is real. Anyway, I rather die tomorrow with closure then live 10,000 more years without knowing." The immortal let out a yawn showing the first signs of exhaustion as his lack of sleep began to catch up with him as he turned around and prepared to reenter the tower. "Oh X, out of curiosity have you asked either one of them out yet?"
X turned towards him and with a confused expression under his mask and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, forget it. We should get going now if we want to catch breakfast, but it might be better if we missed it. Beast Boy said he was cooking today."
"You go on without me. I'll catch up later." X said as he gave Khalid a casual wave to let him know it was alright if he left without him. He wanted more time to consider what Khalid had said. He was always somewhat bothered by the matter-converter's words for Khalid was rather skilled at giving you advice without actually 'giving you advice'. He looked back at the rising sun only to find that it had risen a long time ago without him knowing.
"Morning Titans" X greeted as he entered the commons room to the familiar sight of Jinx reading a fashion magazine at the kitchen counter, Beast Boy playing video games and Khalid quietly read a book to the far left corner of the couch
"Morning X" Jinx replied with a bright smile, "There's coffee in the pot if you want some."
"Thanks. Where's Raven?" He asked surveying the room as he poured himself a cup.
"Out getting the mail." Beast Boy answered as he leaned in for a high speed turn. A door was heard sliding open in the near-by distance. "And that would be her right now."
Raven walked in holding a small stack of various colored envelopes. "Letter for Jinx, letter for X. Read in good health." She said as she passed the letters to their respected owners.
"Alright, they're finally here!" An ecstatic Jinx screeched as she proudly waved two tickets in the air drawing all eyes onto her.
"What is?" X asked as he finished his own letter and placed it on the nearby counter.
"Tickets for a concert here in Jump City. For a moment I didn't think they would arrive on time. This is so cool!" She answered with a slight bounce. "So X…" she said suddenly as she leaned across the counter towards the dark leader, "Want to be my date?" she asked with a wink as she flashed the two tickets.
Once again X found himself to be the center of attention. The only thing that bothered him about these times was the pair of violet eyes boring into the back of his skull. "When is it?" he asked in an attempt to buy himself some time to formulate a proper response.
"This Saturday, why? Don't you want to go?" She asked with a cute puppy dog expression.
"This Saturday. Wait, wasn't I suppose to…"
"X you promised me you would take me to that new book and coffee shop this Saturday. It's their grand opening." Raven interjected.
"But the tickets are only good for this Saturday." Jinx stated pleading her case once more.
"But he promised me long before you even asked him." Raven replied.
Both girls stared at each other in a stand off as if gauging the strength of their opponent. "X?" Both girls asked simultaneously as they awaited his decision.
X swallowed, hard. He was able to make life and death decisions on a daily basis and not break a sweat but he couldn't make up his mind about two girls.
"You know this would really be funny if the 'Double Jeopardy' music suddenly came on." Beast Boy remarked.
"Shut up Beast Boy. You're not helping." X snapped silencing the green jokester.
"Jinx?" The monotone voice of Khalid chimed in breaking the stand off the two magic casters were having. "I'm guessing that this concert will be held in central Jump City concert hall, correct?"
"Yeah, why?" She asked unsure of how that information made any difference.
"And Raven that coffee shop you're talking about. It wouldn't happen to be the one on the corner of Liberty and Orchid Lane now would it?"
"Actually, it is. Why?" Raven asked her taking on an expression similar to Jinx's.
"X why don't you take both of them out? The coffee shop is en-route to the concert hall. You could stop there before or after the show. All you need to do is buy an extra ticket for Raven and you're all set." Khalid explained.
"It's not that easy." Jinx said. "The concert is completely sold out. I had to order these tickets several weeks in advance."
"Sold out? Who's playing anyway? They must be very popular to sell out so quickly." Khalid inquired.
"Yuna Kagurazaka, she's a famous teen idol from Japan."
Amazingly a spark of interest shot through Khalid's empty eyes. "Yuna Kagurazaka? You're kidding me? I didn't know you listened to her."
"I blame Gizmo. He's a major J-Pop buff and I often raided his music collection when I was bored." The pinked haired sorceries answered with a slight giggle. "Anyway, that's why we wouldn't be able to get an additional ticket."
"Hmm, I think I have an idea. Beast Boy do me a favor and go to my room. In my desk, third drawer on the right, there should be a notebook in there. Grab it for me will you and if I find out you touched anything else besides that notebook I'll make sure they call you Bald Boy instead of Beast Boy." Khalid ordered as he returned to his book in wait of Beast Boy's return.
Beast Boy shrugged. "Can't really argue with that request." He said as he ran off to do his errand. Everyone was quiet as they awaited Beast Boy's return and to hear Khalid's idea. It wasn't long before a large green bloodhound walked in with a small black notebook in it's mouth walked up to Khalid and dropped the small book at his feet with a pleased expression. Khalid picked the book up by the corner and shook off some drool on the book.
"Thank you Beast Boy though you didn't have to give me that free sample of slobber." The apath remarked as he opened the semi-wet book and began to page through it all the while mumbling half coherent phrases which sounded as, "That's not it." And "I wonder if she'll be mad after all this time."
After a moment of searching the small archive he finally stopped on a page, approached the monitor and activated the video phone function. The large screen blacked out as a small bar that read 'connecting' appeared.
"Who you calling?" Beast Boy asked seemingly appearing out of nowhere right next to Khalid.
"Shut up"
"You know you could use some work on you're social skills." Beast Boy countered with a half-scowl.
"I'll keep that in mind when I choose to care." Khalid replied remorselessly as the blank screen was replaced with a counter view of a basic everyday kitchen. Several 2ft high stacks of empty bowls were visible nearby as a young girl with reddish-violet hair sat across from the screen. Her face obscured by a large bowl which she appeared to be shoveling food into her mouth from.
"This is the private line of Yuna Kagurazaka. This is Yuri speaking. Who may I say is calling?" The voice from behind the bowl said in between bites and swallows.
"Yuri, what have I told you about talking with your mouth full?" Khalid asked in slight wonder.
The girl known as Yuri suddenly stopped eating and slowing lowered her bowl from her face. A pair of chopsticks still placed against her lips. With the bowl no longer covering her face it was much easier to see what she looked like. Shoulder length hair, bright and active blue eyes, four small blue triangular symbols in the shape of a compass rose in the middle of her forehead and a cute if not shocked expression on her face.
"Khalid?" She asked as if she didn't believe what she was seeing on her monitor.
Khalid nodded in confirmation. "Is Yuna home?"
"Yeah, I'll go get her for you." Yuri said as she went off screen. Without the sound of Yuri eating the faint sound of a shower running was heard in the background. "Yuna, there's a cute guy on the video phone for you." Yuri shouted in a sing-song voice.
"I don't care. It's probably another stalker fan-boy anyway. Doesn't he know that's a private line? Tell him I'm busy." A young girl's voice shouted in reply. Even though the voice sounded a bit irritated it was still a rather soft and cute voice signaling the owner was quite the beauty.
"But Yuna, it's someone you know." Yuri pleaded
"Like?"
"I'll give you a hint. His name starts with a 'K' ends with a 'lid'. Ring any bells?" Yuri asked.
"You mean?"
"Yup!"
"Oh my gosh!" Yuna shouted as the sound of running water was heard being shut off. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" The panicked voice was heard over and over as several objects were heard falling down and breaking as a pair of feet were heard running down the hall. "Khalid? It is you!"
Before the Titans was an image of a young girl wearing nothing more than a blue robe appeared on the screen. Her hair was long, blonde, and at the moment very wet, her eyes greener and shinier than emerald and a smile on her face that could have made Starfire look gloomy.
"Hello Yuna. It's been awhile." Khalid asked.
"This is so cool. That's thy Yuna Kagurazaka!" Jinx whispered to herself.
"Dude, she is like totally hot." Beast Boy whispered to X.
"Yeah, I admit she is cute." X agreed.
"Perhaps it's a bad idea to take X to this concert." Raven whispered to Jinx who nodded with a disapproving frown at X's comment.
"Almost two years. So I guess you didn't lose my number, but that brings up the question of why you never called earlier." Yuna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know I have a bad habit of not being able to stay put for long periods of time. I've just barely settled down recently." Khalid answered with an innocent shrug.
"Well then what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me today of all days?" She asked with a smile.
"I heard recently you're going to be having a concert here states. Little place called Jump City."
"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?"
"It just so happens to be the place I've settled in for the time being and well I was wondering if you could do me a favor Yuna."
"Need some tickets?" She asked with a wink.
"Just one if that's alright? It's for a friend."
"Sure thing. What's their name?"
"Raven, Raven Roth." Raven said stepping forth.
"Alright, I'll make sure to give you're name to Liavelt. She's in charge of ticket handling. At the box office just ask to speak to Liavelt Von Neuestein. Young, light blue hair, in your face attitude. No way can you miss her." Yuna explained.
"Thank you Yuna." Khalid said sounding a coldly distant.
"I guess that's all you wanted huh? Well I'll be going." Yuna said clearly saddened and disappointed.
"Really?" Khalid asked with a hint of puzzlement. "Cause I was going to ask you if you would be free for lunch sometime when you arrived here."
"Really?" The pretty blonde asked as her eyes suddenly came back to life.
"Of course. You didn't think I would just call to get a ticket now did you?"
Yuna blushed. Partially out of shame for doubting him and partially out of embarrassment. "I'll be getting Thursday night and Friday is going to be rehearsal but I'm free Saturday afternoon on the day of the concert. We can have lunch then."
"Did someone say LUNCH!" Yuri asked suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind Yuna. "Can I come, please?"
"Hehe, I don't know. Can Yuri come Khalid?" Yuna asked in between giggles.
"I don't see why not."
"Yeah!" both girls yelled simultaneously. "Just stop by the concert hall around noon this Saturday. Anyway, Khalid we're getting another call here. See you this Saturday, ok." Yuna said.
"Alright see you then. Khalid out." The apath said as the channel was disconnected and the screen went black again. He turned to face the rest of the his comrades. "There you go. Got you another ticket like I said I would."
"Hmm, she seems nice. Surprised she would consider you of all people a friend Khalid." Raven remarked coldly.
"Really Raven I'm hurt." Khalid said as he placed his hand against his heart.
"No your not."
"You're right I'm not, but still. Did you think I burnt down cities everyday of my life." Khalid asked.
"Who cares about that? You just got a date with two really cute girls. Man I'm envious." Beast Boy said.
"It's not a date. We're just having lunch to catch up. For crying out loud I was her landlord for year. Anyway, she's too young for me." Khalid explained dismissing Beast Boy's comment
"Dude, you can't use that as an excuse. Everyone is too young for you." The green jokester exclaimed.
"Do you have anything else to do today besides annoy me?" Khalid asked looking down at the young hero.
"No, not really." Beast Boy admitted.
"Wait a minute. We may have three tickets now, but the X-Cycle only seats two." X said introducing a new problem.
"That's no problem. Why don't we just take the new Titans vehicle? According to this letter it'll be ready for pick up tomorrow afternoon." Raven asked as she held up the letter X was reading but a moment ago.
"Well that settles that. Unless there are any complaints from X about the situation." Jinx said as she eyed X.
"None what so ever." X said though he sounded a little too nervous.
"Speaking of rides, what are you going to use Khalid? You're going to be picking up two hot chicks so you're going to need a hot ride." Beast Boy asked again prying into the apath's life.
Khalid eyed the small nuisance he called a teammate, but said nothing. Apparently he hadn't given that problem any thought. Suddenly the alarm went off.
"Doctor Light is robbing bank. Titans Go!" X shouted.
"Man who robs a bank this early in the morning?" Beast Boy asked.
Khalid shrugged, "Well talk about this later."
End Chapter 10.
End rants, nothing much today.
Yuna and Yuri are from the ultra cute series "Galaxy Fraulein Yuna". Just one of the many series that will be crossed over with in this story. Hmm, nothing much that needs mentioning besides that. Oh yeah, I'll be picking up on comment replies next week. That's about all. Later