Beast Boy had landed them on a sandy beach, complete with thick trees with vines hanging in the horizon. Exhausted after hours of flying up in the clouds, the little changeling had transformed back to his normal form as soon as he could, lying on the ground with his eyes half-closed. The other Titans quickly went to his side, petting his head and talking quietly to him. Jinx looked at him with pity and then cast her eyes to the calm waves crashing on shore.
Wherever they were, she knew that she couldn't make the kids go any further. Everyone looked rattled, and they were tired. Hell, she was tired too. Besides, they kids seemed like they had enough with running around to last a lifetime. When was the last time they had time to relax? Not to mention they were all still shaken up from Raven's disappearance, even with her shitty explanation. Clearly, none of them believed her.
Jinx kicked at the sand with her boot and watched as the grains of sand disappeared in the clear water. The long hour flight hadn't done any good to heal her heavy heart. She was still inexplicably sad about Raven's death, but she had pushed it aside. It was stupid of her to feel sad about the death of her enemy. How many times had she fervently wished for one of the Titans to die a horrible death? What about the long nights she had spent with Mammoth and Gizmo, giggling over different ways to torture the damned Teen Titans before killing them, laughing at their triumph? She remembered them all, even remembered the long laughs at those ideas.
She didn't realize how fucking sad it actually was.
Jinx blinked and realized she had been staring at the ocean like an idiot, just glaring at the dark water as though it had told her off. Her eyes glanced at the sky, which was a haze of red and pink. The sun was setting, and quickly. She sighed heavily and felt her shoulders sag- where the hell were they going to sleep tonight?
She turned to the Titan kids, who were still all huddled around their little green friend. They glanced up at her, faces smudged with dirt and sweat and other nasty things.
"Well," she said, trying to sound more like herself. "This sucks, doesn't it?"
The kids all stared at her. There wasn't a sound.
"Never fear, Jinx is here!" she thrust her fist up in the air. Then she grinned. "I won't letcha guys down! Now, first things first, where are we?"
The kids stared at her again, not seeming to understand. Then Beast Boy slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his hand.
"Isssland." he said slowly, trying to enunciate. "Da one wif all the trees and vines.."
"Jus like in Peta!" Cyborg explained to her, sounding matter of fact. His tiny robot hands moved furiously as he explained. "The story wif the boy that nev'r grew up! He live in 'Everland withs the Lost Boys! Does you know that story, Jink?"
Jinx blinked, completely lost. She had no idea what either boys had just said to her. Peta? Who the hell was Peta? And the Lost Boys? She stared at them some more, looking for another hint, but they were looking back at her with goofy smiles and childish hope. She inwardly winced. She was never good at fables or storytelling.
"I do not know the story." Starfire said quietly, staring at the sand. "I do not know any Earthen stories."
Robin touched her arm gently and gave her a wide smile. "But I knows it! I tells you, Starry! It's the story of Peter Pan!"
The children all clamored at once, talking and giggling over the name like it was a well known secret.
Peter Pan. Jinx thought, suddenly remembering. It was a story that she had forgotten a long time ago- the last time she had even heard of the fable was when she was still in the foster home, getting tucked into bed with all the other children and waiting anxiously for the bedtime story. The feeling of nostalgia washed over her.
"I remember that story." she said to the kids, grinning as they all perked up and turned towards her, their faces brightening almost immediately. "It was one of my favorites."
"Can yous tells it to us?" Starfire asked, her eyes wide.
Jinx fiddled with her hands. "Uh.. yeah. Totally. But not right now. You guys see the sun, right?"
The Titan children nodded simultaneously.
"Well we need to find a place to stay and sleep for the night, or else we might get caught in a storm. And we don't want do we, you little snots?" Jinx asked them. The children looked at one another and slowly shook their heads no. Jinx felt satisfied with the answer and continued. "Then we need to set up camp right next to that tree over there, and then maybe I'll tell you a story before we go to sleep. Maybe."
"But our stuffs got washed away." Starfire said quietly, her lip quivering as though she was about to cry.
Jinx cocked her head and waved it away with her hand. "Eh, we don't need that stuff! We landed in a jungle, and that's one of Earth's grocery stores! We'll find something to hide under!"
"Like what?" Beast Boy whispered underneath Robin's shredded cape.
"Like this!" Jinx spun on her heel and pointed her finger to a large palm tree sitting a couple yards in front of them. A tiny stream of pink flew out and stuck into the trunk, and with a loud BOOM, the mighty tree swayed and started to plummet towards the ground. The children screamed and dashed behind her, but the tree landed harmlessly in the sand with a mighty thump. Jinx turned to look at them with a mischevious grin. "Look, we can set it up as a shelter for the night."
Cyborg cautiously stepped out from behind them and looked at the fallen tree, gently touching it with his human hand. Then, looking at his other hand with interest, he slowly touched it with his other. The robot arm suddenly transformed into a tiny saw, and right before their eyes, Cyborg started to saw into the wood. The metal cut into the wood like butter, slowly molding it into something different. Jinx watched in slight fascination as he worked.
He was making a shelter. Well, damn. Jinx tore her eyes away and turned to Starfire, who was slightly hovering above the ground, nervously biting her fingernails. An idea came to mind. "Starfire." she barked.
The red-haired alien jumped slightly. "Yes, Jink?"
"You see those huge leaves over there?" Jinx pointed to the huge palm tree leaves, swaying gently in the wind. It was way up in the air, almost disappearing from sight in the clouds. Starfire looked at the tree and then at Jinx.
"Yes." the child said softly. "What does you wan' me to do, Jink?"
Jinx crossed her arms. "You can fly. Go get some so we can make a shelter."
The alien nodded briefly and disappeared into the air. That left the little masked kid and Beast Boy. Jinx stared at Robin, who used to be the team's leader, and couldn't help but feel a small wave of satisfaction. She had hated Robin the most, out of all of them. The shit had always caught her at the worst times. It would be so easy to torture him, to make him miserable for all those times that he had shamed her in front of her team.
Robin was staring at her, his mask partly ripped down on the bridge. He held on tightly to Beast Boy, who was looking like he was about to fall asleep on the spot. Jinx scowled.
"Robin, go help Cyborg with his shelter." she snapped, wishing that she had the balls to sound harsher. "Beast Boy, we'll need some help getting the tree shelter up. Can you change into an elephant or whatever?"
"Yes, Jink." Beast Boy said tiredly, slowly morphing into a large beast. His footsteps pounded the ground as he walked over to Cyborg.
A fluttering noise suddenly surrounded Jinx, and then she felt something silky brush against her skin. It was dark palm leaves, lots of them. Jinx wiped the leaves off, scowling as she did so, and spotted Starfire standing dutifully in front of her. The little alien gave her a wide grin, and she sighed.
This was going to be a long night.
Jinx settled on the sand, looking at four little faces staring intently back at her. They were all settled in, with the palm leaves pulled up tightly to their chins and Robin's torn cape underneath their heads. They were huddled closely together for warmth, their feet warming by the tiny fire Jinx had started. Yawning, the children had talked quietly amongst one another, but now they were staring at Jinx and wanting a bedtime story.
"I don't know any." Jinx said crossly, settling against the hard log. "Besides, do I look like the kind of girl to tell stories?"
Beast Boy clutched the leaves and peered over the surface. "Raben told stuffs."
"Raben tol' us funny jokes!" Robin said sleepily. "One time she tol' us of one of a sticky stick."
Cyborg giggled.
Jinx raised an eyebrow. "A sticky... stick." she said flatly. How creative, Raven.
"One time, Raben gots us stuck in da big water. Jus like dis time. The airpane went boom boom." Starfire mumbled sleepily, rubbing her face into Robin's shoulder. "Beastie changed into a.. a.. Rwobin, I don't 'member."
"Whale." Robin said quietly.
"Whale!" Beast Boy piped up.
Jinx stared at them, her nose scrunched up in confusion. What were they babbling about this time? She raised her hands to quiet them, feeling her head pound with slight irritation and exhaustion. God, was this really her life right now? Hiding like a criminal with.. toddlers? Toddlers that happened to be her enemy?
The kids were staring at her again, with wide tired eyes. Jinx sighed and relaxed her body a little. "How about this? I remember I told you guys about Peter Pan."
They nodded excitedly. Starfire gasped and squirmed, obviously happy that she would finally understand an Earthen tale.
Jinx took a deep breath, trying to muster up soft and tender emotions. Did she even have them anymore? "Well.. once upon a time, there was.. uh.. three children. Their names were Wendy, John, and Micheal. I think. The names aren't important. Anyway, they were tired of their boring lives. You see, they lived in a nice house, with parents who did the same things, and a dog that was their babysitter."
"A baby-sit-ter?" Starfire said slowly. "Why would one sit upon the baby?"
"I coulds sits on the baby." Cyborg muttered. "I likes to sit."
"Shh." Jinx said. "Anyway, one day while they went to bed, a mysterious boy had snuck into their window looking for his shadow. With him, he had a little glowing friend who was named Tinkerbell. He convinced them to come with him to an unknown place called Neverland, a place that little boys and girls could go to and never grow up."
Jinx found herself getting lost in the story, remembering all the little details of the story that she had been told so many times. She even remembered the nice nun that had read her the story at night, tucking her into bed and reading her the tale of Peter Pan and Wendy. It was even better this time; watching the Titan children's faces light up as she waved her arms around, imitating the awful Captain Hook and his pirates. With her magic, she could spin holographic pirates that danced around them, chanting with their swords and clubs.
She had even remembered the Lost Boys and how they loved Wendy and her brothers. She had remembered Tinkerbell's jealously of Wendy, and how Peter Pan had defended her until the end. And she hadn't forgotten to mention the magic of flying, the effect of pixie dust. The children seemed amazed, and Starfire sat up and squealed during the pixie dust part.
"Jink, do I have da pi-xie dust?" she asked happily, her green eyes glowing.
"No." Jinx said, and she watched Starfire's happy expression crash to the floor. "You're actually a beautiful fairy, Starfire, and you don't know it yet. That's why you have those magic powers."
Another huge grin spread across Starfire's face. "Really?" she squealed.
"Yeah, really." Jinx gave her a small smile in return. "Now that you have your story, you wana go to bed now? It's late."
"Okay Jink." Starfire climbed back between Robin and Beast Boy, snuggling against the Boy Wonder and sighing contently. The two boys were dozing off already, and the small alien closed her eyes and joined them. In moments, the children were asleep as though nothing had happened. Jinx sighed herself and leaned against the log again, feeling more tired than ever.
Story-telling was hard, she decided. But the kids seemed to really like it.
She was on the verge of sleep herself when sadness slammed back into her. Taking care of these kids was hard. And now, there wasn't anyone to help her. How long was this going to take, running around undercover so that they wouldn't be slammed by the bad guys? How long before Slade would sniff them out?
Jinx felt disgusted. Slade. He was such a prick, acting as though he was the best villain in the damn universe. He wasn't that good. He was just a rich guy who had a bunch of fancy gadgets. Like Batman. Except Batman wasn't going to help them- he was long gone from the hero world. Even if she wanted to find him, the mighty hero would never help a villain.
As she settled into sleep, she swore she heard the soft sounds of crying, but then it was gone.
I see that I have had some strong reactions to the last chapter. I'm sorry you guys! Dx
I'll continue to update ASAP, but school is starting back up and I don't know how often it'll be. But I promise I'll stick through it to the end. :)
Please review some more, I feel like a good writer! Almost 100 reviews- I can't even understand how I got that many. I didn't think this story would turn out that well! You guys have my gratitude! :)