Chapter drop 3 of 3!


HOOOOOOOONNNNNNKKKKKKKKK!

"See! I told you it was a goose!"

Raven sighed and covered her face. This was embarrassing, to say the least.

"That…that's not really a goose, right mommy? It's so big and doesn't even look like a goose!"

"It honks just like a goose though!"

"Gooses don't honk like that!"

"Will you two stop?" Raven snapped.

Emelia made a face as Garfield grinned from ear to ear. Raven shook her head, unable to truly believe he was being annoying not even five minutes onto the boat.

The Allure of the Seas wasn't really a boat. It was a cruise liner out of Orlando, Florida. A really, really big ship. It was practically a small city! Like, holy crap there were a lot of people on this thing.

Making the decision to go on a cruise hadn't been a light one. They had weighed several options, including a mountain retreat (which would have bored Garfield and Emelia), a lakeside getaway (which would have bored Emelia), and a few other things. This had been Raven's last choice, but at the same time it had a spa and the suites were very private. It was really the spa that got Raven on board, not that she would admit it.

"Where's our room?" Garfield asked, glancing off the side of the boat to the people on the loading docks. They were getting stares again.

"Take a wild guess." Raven showed him the directory pamphlet she had received a few minutes ago.

He read it and sighed. "That's gonna take a minute with all these people in the way. Can we…?"

"Who's gonna stop me?" Raven said with a hmph. Within a few seconds a magical platform rose under their feet and took them off the side of the ship. There were a lot of startled gasps and excited calls, but Raven ignored them.

It was only a few minutes flight but it felt like forever because of all of the civilians gawking at them.

Unfortunately, they had someone waiting for them as they landed…

"Excuse me, Miss Raven?" The rather nervous looking attendant said. "We, um…we need you to…not do that. Again. Please?"

Raven cocked an eyebrow at him. Garfield already knew what was coming, so he stepped in front of her.

"Yeah, sorry dude, we'll totes try to keep a low profile and keep the powers on the down low too, so you guys can chill, okay dude?" Garfield said with a smile.

"I…uh…okay?" The guy said, a bit startled with the drastic difference in demeanor between the heroes in front of him.

Raven waited until the man was gone to raise an eyebrow at her boyfriend, who shrugged and swapped Emelia to the other arm.

"I know yer cranky cause you haven't had time to link you and Emelia to me yet, so I figured I'd take care of anyone coming to bug us so you didn't bite their heads off." He said.

She grimaced. "Is it that noticeable?"

"Only to people who know you."

"Pft."

Garfield chuckled. "Come on Rae, we went through that long boarding process, took pictures, and even got these neat wrist bands! All the annoying stuff is done!"

"I know, I know." Raven conceded as she used the keycard to open the door to their room.

It looked more like a fancy hotel room than it did a room on a ship. It came with air conditioning, a minibar (stripped of alcohol as per Raven's request due to them all being under age), a safe box, a TV that wasn't quite as big as the one in the tower, and a rather large bed in one room and a smaller bed in another room.

The was just ooonnneee problem…

"Dude, why it all orange?"

"We got the last suite available, sooooo…yeah. It's orange." Raven sighed. Orange itself wasn't a bad color, per say. It was just its common pairing with black that brought up memories of someone unpleasant.

And everything in the room was orange and black patterned.

"Can you magic up a different color?" Garfield asked as he put Emelia down.

Raven hesitated to answer as she thought about it. "Possibly?"

"It'd be pretty cool if ya did."

"Don't get your hopes up, I didn't exactly bring many magic tomes with me." Raven waved her hand and deposited their luggage onto the bed, where each case opened up and began emptying of clothes.

"Have you ever seen Fantasia? The old Mickey Mouse movie?" Garfield asked as he watched the clothes fold up and tuck away into various drawers with Raven's powers.

"I don't even know who Mickey Mouse is."

He shook his head. "He'd be mad jealous of you right now."

Raven chuckled softly as the suit cases finally emptied and set off to the side. The few valuables they had were placed inside the safe directly and their toiletries followed her into the bathroom. It was a bit smaller than the pictures had shown, but the bathtub and shower both looked nice.

Both of those are big enough for two. Desire murmured.

Shush. Raven ordered. She heard a laugh and rolled her eyes.

"Duuuude, I didn't know we had a balcony!"

Raven followed the sound of his voice to find that they did indeed have a balcony. It was really just big enough for the two of them to sit on, but still had a pretty nice view.

Garfield leaned against the rail, taking in the view of the things before them.

"You know, Rae…this wasn't something I ever expected to happen." He said slowly.

"What's that?" She asked, glancing at Emelia, who was reading the pamphlet of daily activities.

"This." He gestured out to all they saw. "Being here with you, doing these things…just…everything, ya know?"

She joined him at the rail. "Well…I never expected to live past sixteen. Or that there would even be a world to see after that day."

"Yeah, I know. This is just…surreal."

"Ooooo, there's a big word. Where'd you learn that one from?" She teased him.

"Come'on Rae, I'm being serious." He scowled.

"I know, it's giving me a rash." She couldn't help but to repeat the joke he once made.

His response was to make a face and swat her butt.

It was something he had picked up from Rose, who was always smacking Eddie on the butt for some reason or another. Raven knew it was some sort of dominance thing, but she didn't actually mind it unless they were in public.

She stuck her tongue out at him and he swooped in for a kiss, just as she expected. It was hot and passionate and Raven really could just stay there-

"Can you guys stop kissing for five minutes so we can go look around?" Emelia asked quite crabbily.

Neither Raven nor Garfield could keep from laughing at that. The little girl was cranky because not only did she still not get to play with Felicity but she also hadn't been allowed to bring Mister Spooky. There was no way in Hell that Raven was going to allow that thing on a floating can of human sardines and Emelia had pitched quite a fit about it. If it had been a regular stuffed animal, no problem at all. But a demon? Nope. There had been a lot of pleading and begging, then a temper tantrum, followed by crying.

It had been a first for the new parents but they felt like they had handled it well and made the right decision.

"So what do we have options to do here?" Garfield scooped Emelia up again, taking her place in the seat and setting her in his lap.

Raven, sitting next to him, grabbed the pamphlet from her daughter and started reading. "Well, there's quite a variety of things. There's a surfing area near the five pools, rock climbing over here by the arcade…"

"Oh, look! A gym with a tennis court and basketball court!" Garfield pointed out.

"A sola…sola…" Emelia stumbled over the word, her first time seeing it.

"Solarium." Raven said for her.

"Yeah, what is that?"

Raven thought about it. "I guess you could say it's an inside room for pretending to be outside?"

Both Garfield and Emelia made a face and said the same thing. "Sounds dumb. Why not go outside?"

Raven could only shake her head at them and chuckle. "No clue."

"Bunch of restaurants too." Garfield pointed them out. "That one sounds Italian."

"A lot of bars too, but we don't need those." Something caught Raven's eye and she beamed. "Look, a bookstore!"

Garfield groaned. "Oh come on…"

"Oh, shut up, there's an arcade over here."

"Dude, really?! I love arcades!"


It was the sound of a fussy baby that woke Rose up.

And it seriously confused the hell out of her.

Why do I hear a baby crying? She wondered as she rolled over to check the clock. It wasn't quite dawn, so she was up about an hour early. Confused and groggy, she rolled the other way and pushed on her boyfriend.

"Hey." She yawned. "Why do I hear a baby crying?"

His only response was a soft snore, but the fussing got a little louder. And it was coming from…Eddie?

She sat up on one elbow and peered at him in the minute amount of light that came through their window. There was something on his chest. It was the same color as him, but there was something white on it too. She reached out and touched it. Hair? Why…

It hit her like a freight train and she kicked herself for forgetting about her daughter.

Scooping the child up, she started checking her. Diaper needed changing and she was probably hungry. She was out of bed moments later, grabbing both a diaper and the child-related books Raven had gotten her.

She made her way to the common room, trying her best to soothe Felicity as they went. She knew this was going to be a lot of work, adjusting to having her daughter in her life. Thankfully, Eddie had forgiven her for the lie and embraced his daughter as if nothing had happened.

This was going to be hard for the both of them, moving past and overcoming the things they'd experienced. But they could do it. No, they would do it.

Rose knew she was two cars short of an impending train wreck but it wasn't going to stop her from having what she wanted.

"Shhhhh, it's okay, it's okay." She cooed to her daughter. Felicity may have latched onto her and Eddie readily yesterday, but she was quite confused this morning.

Rose set the diaper and books down on the table after reaching the common room, then Felicity. The girl squirmed a bit, but Rose held her in place as she flipped a book open to a diagram on changing diapers.

"Well that was fuckin' gross." She said some time later after she finally got the damn thing on and threw the old one away. Felicity, however, was still being fussy. She had to be hungry since it was first thing in the morning. She flipped open another book (about infant dietary procedures) and found a sticky note on the front page in Raven's handwriting.

First meal in fridge, blue bowl. Reheat, then add chopped strawberries. Small pieces, mind you.

Stepping over to the fridge (with Felicity saying mama over and over again), she found the blue and discovered it had oatmeal in it. Frowning cause of her own dislike of the mush, she set it down next to the book and flipped back to the section for Felicity's age.

And found another sticky note.

Yes, oatmeal is good for her.

"…fuck." Rose groaned. She didn't even like the smell of oatmeal. With a sign, she flipped to the page for actual way to make the slop. Literally all that was left was to reheat it and add strawberries.

So she did that, baby on her hip. It was weird, but watching Felicity messily eating strawberries was adorable, so it balanced out. Sort of.

As she sat Fifi (a fucking adorable nickname, in Rose's mind) down in her new high chair (which Raven had gotten for her), Rose had a flash of her precognitive powers.

Now, Rose hadn't had a flash in months and had suspected that Raven turned her powers off for some reason or another. The one she had now must have meant that Raven had turned her powers back on before leaving. Sneaky bitch.

She was grateful though. Otherwise, she probably would have kicked Martin to the moon out of surprise. And that wouldn't have ended well for anyone.

"Fra'nok Rose, I'm hungry!" The little boy said, tugging on her shirt. It was a good thing she liked him more than Emelia.

Rose, who hadn't even heard the boy enter the room, looked down at him, then around the kitchen. "I'll make you some cereal as soon as I can-ah, there it is, never mind. Get in your chair."

It only took her a couple of minutes to get Martin his food, then she moved back to Felicity, who was trying to figure out how spoons worked.

As Rose fed her daughter and kept an eye on Martin, she flipped through the food-oriented book. Babies were a lot more complicated than she thought, particularly when it came to their dietary needs. Raven had left numerous notes scattered about the book explaining things and offering alternatives, which really helped. It made Rose wonder if she needed to be nicer to Raven for all this help she was getting.

Knock knock knock

It was the second time this morning Rose had heard a peculiar sound from a place she shouldn't have heard something from, and yet when she looked up she saw there was indeed a source of the noise.

The source being a flying woman outside the window.

"The fuck?" She said aloud before moving to the window. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm here to see Starfire." The woman said, flicking her long black hair back. She had some big, pretty purple eyes too.

Rose eyed her up and down, noting the similarities in her and Starfire's clothes but also noticing that this woman only showed skin on her hands and head. Every other place was covered in beat up, dirty, and badly patched armor.

Her face was also strikingly similar to Star's, except for a very visible haughtiness.

Must be another Tamaranean. She thought as she hit a small switch on the wall, opening the window connected to said wall just enough for the woman to squeeze through.

"Lemme call her." Rose said, moving to the kitchen where there was a small communicator stashed in a drawer.

"Yes, friend Rose?" Starfire answered a few moments later.

"Yeah, you got a visitor here."

Starfire quirked an eyebrow at her. "A visitor? Who is it?"

"I dunno, looks like one of your people I guess." She glanced at the woman, who was staring at Martin in confusion. He stared back at her.

"A Tamaranean? Are you certain?"

"Orange skin, flying, built like a fighter. Sounds pretty Tamaranean to me." Rose shrugged. "She's got black hair and purple eyes if that helps."

Starfire's eye went wide. "That sounds like my sister, Blackfire! Please, do not let her near Martin!"

Rose looked back at the woman, Blackfire, who was now holding Martin up and staring at him in bewilderment. "Uhhh…."

The tower shook once, twice, three times before a wall suddenly burst outward. In flew a very naked Starfire, who looked around until she spotted her sister.

"Kori, what-" Was all Blackfire had time to say before Starfire struck her so hard that Rose felt her own organs shake from the impact. The Tamaranean was sent crashing through the window and out of the tower to the ground below.

Wide eyed, Rose watched Starfire catch Martin out of the air and start checking him all over.

"My bumgorf! Are you all right? Did she hurt you?!" She was clearly freaking out.

"No mumma, she just picka me up!" An equally bewildered Martin answered.

"Oh, thank X'hal!" Starfire wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.

About that time a half dressed Eddie and a half dressed Robin, followed very closely by Cyborg, piled in the room.

"Star! What happened, you just- wait!" Robin pounced on his woman and threw his cloak around her to hide her nudity.

"Yo, like for real, why'd you wreck the tower?!" Cyborg cried out, looking at the hole and preceding holes he'd have to fix.

"Blackfire was here!" Starfire said, pointing at the window.

"Was being the keyword." Rose said, moving to the window and peeking out at the inert alien below. "Is she that dangerous?"

She jumped when she heard a squeal behind her, whipping around to find Felicity reaching for Eddie. He laughed and scooped her up.

As much as it made her heart ache with joy to see this, it also kinda hurt too. Felicity didn't have that reaction towards her. It was more like a calm acceptance. With Eddie it was all giggles and smiles.

Rose might have been a little jealous.

"Should we go get her?" Eddie asked as he joined Rose at the window, carefully leaning out to look. "She, uh…ain't moving."

The other Titans came to the window and peered out. Blackfire really wasn't moving at all.

"Star…you didn't…you know, kill her, did you?" Robin asked slowly.

The alien princess shook her head. "I do not think that I struck her with the force of killing, no."

"Here." Eddie said, handing Felicity off to Rose (who immediately grabbed her hair). With a BAMF he disappeared down to the ground, scooped up the unconscious (?) alien, and teleported back. Ever so gently he lay her upon the couch.

"Well, she's alive." Cyborg said dryly after inspecting her. "Looks like you dislocated her jaw though."

"Let's wait til she wakes up, then we'll see what she wants." Robin said decisively.

"Yeah, Star needs to go put some clothes on before she and I have a sexy accident." Rose raked her eyes up and down what she could see. "A very sexy accident."

Starfire made a face. "I do not understand. A sexy accident?"

Rose grinned at her. "Yup, 'cause I'm totally about to motorboat them big ol' titties of-OH FUCK! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!"

And that, children, was the sound of Felicity finding her mothers nipple through her night shirt and biting it.


"Excuse me, Mister Beast Boy?"

"Yeah?"

"Are…are you okay?"

Beast Boy, wearing cargo shorts, flip flops, and a red Hawaiian shirt, looked at the girl funnily. "Uhhh, yeah? Why?"

The woman gestured to Emelia, tucked under one arm with her nose buried in a book, then to Raven, who was thrown over his shoulder with her own nose buried in a book.

Beast Boy glanced at one then the other (Raven's ass, specifically), then back at the attendant.

"Yeah, kinda normal for us when they find a new bookstore."

"Ummm…okay?"


Pop!

Blackfire groaned and tears welled up in her eyes as she rubbed her jaw. It had taken Starfire (now dressed) to relocate it and hadn't been a particularly pleasant experience.

"I haven't seen you in quite some time and this is how you greet me?!" Blackfire wiggled her jaw back and forth, making sure it was set right.

"Can you blame her?" Cyborg asked as he put a new wall panel in place and started bolting it down.

"We didn't exactly part on good terms, Blackfire." Robin said seriously, a frown on his face. "You took over Tamaran, tried to force Starfire to marry a sklertch, then tried to kill her."

"And for that I banished you from Tamaran." Starfire continued for him. "Why would you come here?"

"Probably because this isn't Tamaran." Blackfire snapped. "I didn't come here to fight, dearest little sister, I came to trade."

Not quite the statement anyone was expecting.

"Trade?" Starfire asked. "Trade what?"

"Two things." Blackfire said, reaching into a bag that had been tied to her waist. She pulled out a handful of turquoise crystals. "Unrefined klthkar crystals for drekkiks, if you have any, and information."

"Drekkiks?" Eddie asked from his seat at the table, where he basically sheltering Rose from his still hungry daughter that he was feeding banana slices to.

"Interstellar currency." Blackfire replied, tossing the bag to Starfire.

"Where did you get so many klthkar crystals?" Starfire asked, growing agitated. "Did you steal them and think to blame me again?"

Blackfire looked away. "No. It was…payment."

"Payment for what?" Robin asked.

"…work." Came the soft response.

The room got quiet, but for why neither Rose nor Eddie knew.

"You? Work?" Cyborg asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Blackfire snapped again. "Unlike dear Starfire, I've always had to struggle for the things I want! And now that I am not only not Grand Ruler but also homeless and banished from my home do I have to work to survive because half the universe knows about me now!"

The room stayed quiet again for a moment, but Eddie broke the silence.

"But…you're the first born princess, right?" He asked. "Why would you need to struggle for anything? Let alone the crown?"

Blackfire stared at him and he could almost feel the hate rolling off of her.

"I supposed my precious sibling didn't tell you anything, did she?" Blackfire glared at Starfire, who, surprisingly, looked away.

"Tell us what?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Blackfire looked at him. "Why don't you think about it, Robin? What was the one thing different between me and the rest of the Tamaraneans you saw?"

Robin's brow furrowed as he thought back to not only his previous trip to Tamaran but to their first trip there.

"Your hair." Cyborg said suddenly. "You're the only one with black hair."

"That's right, Cyborg. Now, do you know why I was the only one with black hair?"

"Uhhhhh…no?"

Blackfire turned her gaze back to her sister. "Would you like to tell them or should I?"

It was obvious to all that Starfire was very reluctant to speak, but she did do so.

"On Tamaran, black hair is considered to be an…omen. A very bad one. It comes from one of our ancient Grand Rulers, who had black hair, that surrendered our first home world to the Citadel."

"First home world?" Robin asked.

Starfire nodded. "Yes. The Tamaran you have went to is our third world that we have taken as a home world."

Robin, like everyone else, was at a loss for words. "That's…"

"Crazy." Cyborg finished for him.

"Continue, Kori." Blackfire interrupted.

Starfire grimaced but kept going. "After the surrender, things were very bad for my people. Time and time again we have faced extinction and barely survived. And all of our society blames that ruler. Because of that, black hair like his is seen to be an ill omen of misfortune. Bad things happen to those who interact with those with black hair. That is why, most of the time…"

"Black haired children are killed at birth." Blackfire finished for her.

It was a very hard thing for the Titans to wrap their minds around. Well, sort of…

"You know, I can actually understand that." Cyborg said. "Not from the general populace, but from the receiving end of the hate."

"Doubt it." Blackfire snorted.

Cyborg gave her a mirthless smile. "I'll loan you a copy of the U.S. History book. The accurate one."

Blackfire ignored him. "The point is is that Starfire, the second born, was given everything that was supposed to be mine, even if I had black hair. Mother and father didn't even look at me once after she came along."

"I feel like everybody you guys know is just, like, totally fucked up in so many ways." Rose popped her head out from behind Eddie.

"That's not inaccurate." Robin muttered before turning back to Blackfire. "Okay, so now we know why you hate Starfire so much. But why come to us to trade?"

"Because Kori is the most likely to trade with me without getting hostile." The alien former princess said in a droll tone as she rubbed her jaw. "Well, that's what I thought anyways. Tell me, dear sister, who's bumgorf is that? Surely not yours, it hasn't been that long since we parted."

"Martin is mine and Robins', yes." Starfire answered her. "But he was made using technology instead of the natural way."

Blackfire cocked an eyebrow, so Robin took over.

"An enemy of ours stole DNA from us and used it make Martin in a secret laboratory. We found out and took him from our enemy and started raising him as our own." It wasn't quite the truth but close enough. Blackfire didn't need all the details anyways.

"Earthlings are so strange." The alien snorted. "I trust Galfore wasn't pleased?"

"Galfore has accepted both him and Robin, as has all of Tamaran." Starfire said proudly.

"Tch, of course they have." Blackfire rolled her eyes.

"Friri'nogi is his given name amongst our people."

"Blue Eyes." Blackfire glanced at the boy, who still hadn't shown a lick of fear towards her. "Like the hero who slayed the Fragumple of Hgt Four?"

"Yes." Starfire nodded.

"Hmph. Putting that aside, will you trade drekkiks for the klthkar crystals?"

Damn, she is one hellavu bitch. Rose thought to herself. Total hottie but a complete bitch.

"I will, yes, though I do not know the value of them."

"Unfortunately, I do. Just show me what you have and I'll sort it out." Blackfire waved her off.

Starfire set Martin down and flew off to her room, leaving quite the awkward silence behind. Robin, apprehensive, kept an indirect eye on their guest as Cyborg resumed working and the other two fed their daughter. What he didn't see at first was…

Tug tug tug

Blackfire looked down at Martin, Friri-nogi, whatever his name was. "What do you want?"

"Up please!" The little boy asked loudly, drawing his fathers attention.

Blackfire didn't want to have anything to do with the boy, but the thought of annoying Robin and Starfire was just too tempting. So, she scooped him up and set him in her lap.

"Better?" She asked, seeing Robin visibly tensing up out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes! Thankka you!" He smiled at her.

Okay, his lack of fear towards her was a tad amusing. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

He shook his head. "No! Imma warrear like mumma!"

Despite herself, Blackfire chuckled. "You sound like your mother when she was little."

"I do?" Martin asked, wide eyed.

"Starfire had a speech impediment?" Robin asked, surprised.

Blackfire cocked an eyebrow at him. "Had? She still has one. She doesn't speak Earthling that way because she messed up the language translation, she speaks that way in any language she uses."

"Oh." It was all Robin could say.

Blackfire rolled her eyes at his ignorance and turned her attention back to the boy in her lap.

"So you're supposed to be a warrior, huh?" She teased.

"Yes! Imma warrear like mumma!" He seemed so proud.

"If that is so, let me see you fly and use starbolts."

That pride evaporated so quickly that it caught her off guard when he practically wilted before her. Startled, she turned to Robin.

"He…cant fly." Robin said softly. "Or use starbolts."

"He cannot do either at his age?! He is of royal blood!" This was appalling to hear. Utter nonsense!

Robin shook his head, so Blackfire looked back at the boy and thought for a moment.

"Friri-nogi." She said, getting his attention. "You are a warrior.

"I am?"

"Yes. Now say it with me until you feel it. I am a warrior."

"I am a warrear!"

"I am a warrior!"

"I am a warrear!"

Robin watched in confusion as this continued for several minutes. It was, however, adorable and funny to see Martin stand up in Blackfire's lap yelling that he was a warrior.

What was not funny, however, was how Blackfire threw Martin at Starfire when she reentered the room.


"Mommy? Where's daddy?"

"I…have no idea." Raven looked around at all the flashing lights and people. They had lost him about ten minutes ago in this arcade and still hadn't seen him even once.

At this point Raven knew she was just going to have to telepathically talk to him, 'cause her linked-enhanced senses of hearing and sight were failing her completely.

Gar? She called out. Where did you go?

Air hockey table, back left corner.

Raven took Emelia firmly in hand and made her way back there, pushing through three small crowds and past two teens making out to find him popping some coins into the table. He smiled at her.

"Let's play a round."

She looked at the table, then him, then back at the table.

"…is this payback for making you wait in the bookstore for an hour?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."


Needless to say, there was a bit of screaming going on in the tower as people scrambled to catch the flying boy.

But after about ten seconds they realized that flying was entirely too accurate a term for what was going on.

"How…?" Starfire asked, dumbfounded, as she watched her now giggling son float above her head.

"Imma warrear mumma, a warrear!" The boy called out, bouncing off the ceiling.

Starfire looked at her sister, who gave her a cocky smile and threw her arms over the back of the couch.

"Dear sister, surely you didn't think unbridled joy was the only way our people could fly?" She asked mockingly.

"Is it not?" Starfire asked, stunned.

"And thus you continue to prove your ignorance." Blackfire sighed. "No, Kori. Our physiology's connection to our emotions isn't as limited as that. A warrior's pride is just as usable for flight as joy is."

"I…I did not know this." Starfire admitted.

"That's because you grew up in a happy home, where you wanted for nothing."

Starfire had nothing to say to that because she knew that nothing she had ever said to her parents or Galfore had ever changed their opinions on her sister. She had tried hard to give her sister the love that everyone else denied her, but it had never been enough. Blackfire just had too much time to fill that void with hate and hostility before Starfire had been born.

"Thank you." Was all she said as she laid the drekkiks upon the table.

Blackfire ignored her and sorted the currency out with the crystals. Starfire didn't actually need the money (or the crystals), but it was useful to have around in case something interstellar came up. Then again, just looking at Blackfire told her that she needed the money more.

Unsurprisingly, most of the drekkiks would be leaving with her.

"That will do." Blackfire said as she tucked the money into the former crystal pouch.

"And the information?" Robin asked.

Blackfire fished a small piece of paper out of her pocket and tossed it to her sister. "Here."

Starfire unfurled it to find a series of numbers and symbols. It looked an awful lot like…

"Coordinates? To a star system?" She asked, surprised. This looked like it was only a few warp-jumps away from Tamaran. But if she was not mistaken, this was Citadel space. Or, what was left of the Citadel anyways.

"Yes."

"What is there that I would desire?"

"Ryand'r."

Starfire felt all three of her hearts stop beating as that name sank in. Robin, seeing her shock, touched her shoulder gently.

"Star? What's wrong? Who or what is Ryand'r?" He asked.

"Why would you not take this to Galfore?!" Starfire said so suddenly, so loudly, that everyone but Blackfire jumped. Felicity started fussing, which made Eddie pick her up to coddle her.

"Banished. From. Tamaran." Blackfire enunciated slowly and loudly back at her sister. "How do you keep forgetting that, you sklet!"

Robin could tell from the look on Starfire's face that things were about to get ugly, so he jumped between them.

"Starfire, look at me, just me, and not at her!" He used his team leader voice with her, which caused her to reflexively look his way. He grabbed her gently by the chin and held her head there as best as he could and spoke softly. "Star, Kori, talk to me. What is this?"

Starfire closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nostrils. Raven's calming technique sure did come in handy.

"Ryand'r is our brother, the youngest of us, thought to have died in the attack that took our parents." She said as calmly as she could. She wasn't calm at all though.

"How do we know it's legit though?" Cyborg dared to asked.

Everyone looked to Blackfire, who shrugged.

"I won't assume your primitive planet has the technology capable of searching that far into space. But I can assure you that the information is accurate and true."

"And we're just supposed to believe you?" Eddie asked, not hiding his skepticism.

Blackfire didn't look at him, but she did nod. "Yes."

"And why's that?" Robin asked. This was frustrating.

"Because the payment I get from my sister is more than worth telling the truth."

An odd statement, to be sure.

Starfire raised an eyebrow at her sister. "And what payment do you require?"

"You owe me. And one day you will repay that debt." Blackfire said darkly.

"That's not ominous at all." Cyborg muttered.

"If it's something within reason, yes. Otherwise…no." Robin firmly.

"We'll see." Blackfire snickered. She grabbed her money bag and flew to the window, not bothering to bid them farewell.

"Fra'nok!"

She knew she shouldn't stop but for some X'hal-damned reason she did and looked back at the floating boy trailing behind her with Starfire trailing behind him.

"What?" She asked, annoyed. But she didn't know if she was annoyed with him or herself. Martin floated right by her and probably would have continued out the broken window if she hadn't of grabbed him by the foot and tugged him back towards his mother.

She damn well didn't know why she did that either.

"You teacha me to fly like momma! Thank you!" He gave her a big smile, which was rather silly considering that he was upside down in his mothers' arms.

"You are a member of the royal family of Tamaran. It's in your blood to be the best, like me." Blackfire said, not hiding her pride the least bit.

"Yer the bestest?" He asked in awe.

She couldn't have kept the grin off her face if she tried. "I am."

"Then Imma be the bestest like you!"

"Please don't." Robin said loudly.

Blackfire laughed and flew out of the tower.

"Bye fra'nok! I love you!"

Nobody could possibly miss how Blackfire faltered in mid air and threw a startled look back their way. Martin, unperturbed, waved at her.

"What a strange boy." She murmured as she flew away.


It would be twelve Earth-time years before they saw Blackfire again, on the very day that Friri-nogi was inaugurated as the Crown Prince of Tamaran. She appeared out of nowhere with a small entourage of black haired Tamaraneans and demanded entry into Tamaranean space for this event as payment for locating Prince Ryand'r years before. Galfore grudgingly agreed and Blackfire and her companions were allowed in under the very watchful eye of the royal guards.

Unsurprisingly, she caused a scene by demanding that Princess Koriand'r fulfill her debt right then and there. Starfire, perturbed and perplexed at the suddenness and the situation her sister had chosen, cautiously agreed to hear the request.

Now imagine everyone's real surprise when Blackfire demanded that Blue Eyes take one of her entourage as a bride, a black haired girl no older him.

It was quite a mess, particularly since the poor attempted-bride-to-be had a stress-induced panic attack from the all the hostility directed towards her and Martin, a trained junior hero/upcoming warrior prince, flew to her aid on sheer reflex. It all went downhill from there…

But that's a story for another day.


Flump!

It was the sound of Raven plopping into the bed at the end of the day, more tired than she thought she would be. Well, she had known that running around on a cruise ship would be tiring, but she hadn't expected to find so many interesting things to catch her attention.

The bookstore, the Italian restaurant, a nice little coffee shop two floors down, a small ballroom (which was an interesting experience for a couple that both had two left feet), a surprisingly nice solarium, and a few other things. She had to figure out how to get out of surfing and rock climbing tomorrow.

The room was surprisingly quiet other than the sounds of Garfield showering. Her own hair was still a little damp from taking a bath with Emelia, but she had ensured her daughter's was dried when she was tucked into bed. Poor things curiosity got the better of her twice today and she got chased by seagulls both times, so she was pretty tuckered out.

This bed was nice and soft. Smelled good too, a soft lavender scent to go with the purple she had changed the color to. The room cleaner had been deeply confused at the decorum change until Raven had explained it. Of course, it was hard to be serious when Garfield was giggling the whole time.

The only thing left on her list to do today was cuddle Garfield.

And she was gonna get her cuddles one way or another.

"Hey there squishy butt, you gonna move so I can get in bed too?"

"You got all this bed and you want the spot that I'm laying in?"

"Duh, it's warm now!"

"Psh. My spot."

He laughed. "Well okay!"

She felt him climb onto the bed. And then he wrapped his arms around her waist, laying his head on her butt and kissing it.

"What are you doing?" She asked as her cheeks warmed up.

"Giving the booty the respect it deserves."

Raven groaned in exasperation and tried to shake him off. Garfield just laughed and sat up, which gave Raven the opportunity to roll over in place. Still laughing he fell upon her, wrapping his arms around her properly now and kissing her.

"You're a dork, you know that?" She told him.

"Yupppppppp, but you love me anyways!"

"Sit boy."

"…now that's just mean."

Raven giggled and he did too. It was stupid, but funny. They were happy and in love.

"Gar?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Did you know I tied my tubes?"

"Why?"

"To save money on condoms and prevent pregnancy."

"Huh…that's neat. Wait, did you do that so you could buy more books?"

"Mhmmmmmmm."

"Figures."

It took him about five more minutes to realize what she was saying, the poor boy.


A/N: if yall can't tell, the story is winding down. Quite nicely, i might add. Next chapter will most likely be the last of Those Violet Eyes.