The next morning was nice and warm, much to Jinx's pleasure. The sun was high up in the sky, without a cloud in sight. There was just the perfect breeze, enough to keep them from sweating their asses off in the heat. Even the ocean seemed to be in a happy mood, calmly crashing into the shore every now and then. Jinx sat up in their little make-shift shelter and stretched, oddly refreshed. Well, maybe she should do this more often.
She got up carefully, to make sure she wouldn't wake the kids. The little snots were still passed out on the floor, drool coming from their little mouths and tiny snores echoing around the shelter. It was kinda cute, but disgustingly so, so she left and carefully placed the leaf over the door so the sun wouldn't come through.
The sand was even warm. Clear blue sky stretched above her head, accompanied with the loud chirping of birds. It smelled like fresh air. Jinx couldn't help but smile a little as she looked at the serene view, she felt relaxed despite the entire situation. When was the last time she had been allowed on a beach? It had been so long, at least five years of staring at that large beach in Jump City, and unable to join the celebrating crowds of people. It was damned Gizmo's fault- he had spread a festering plague of robotic locusts on the beach once, and thereby had the entire team banned. Jinx grimaced at the memory. She had been so pissed at him, knocking him out the second he walked through the door.
But now there was this personal beach, free from people and just as lovely as any of the beaches of the world. Even now that they had their own island. Jinx grinned again.
"Jink.." a small voice behind her whispered.
Jinx jumped and turned around, seeing a very sleepy Robin behind her. The kid was barefoot, his green leggings covered in sand. He looked wierd without his cape, and even funnier with his hair down by his shoulders instead of spiked up. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the other Titan children huddled behind him, looking nervously at her.
"What?" she asked, her voice sounding snappier than she wanted it to.
Robin fiddled with his gloved hands. "Jink.. wha we do now? Bad guy keep coming?"
"We tired of run'in." Cyborg said, holding onto Beast Boy's hand. "We wan' play. Beastie Boy wan's to play in da sand."
"Please, Jink." Starfire begged, her eyes wide. "I wish to be a fa-i-ry, jus' like in da story of Peter Pan."
Jinx looked at them and crossed her arms, determined to remain as strict with them as possible. She couldn't let them run around and play when there was a psychopath on their heels, could she? Especially when that psychopath was Slade.
But they had such damn big eyes and scrunched up sniveling mouths. They were begging, positively begging, for a break. Jinx couldn't help but sympathize. Little kids weren't meant to fight for their lives.
"You know what guys? I have a great idea." Jinx knelt down in the sand, down to their height. She gently poked Robin in the stomach. "Let's have a beach party."
"A beech party?" Robin repeated, a tiny smile on his face.
Jinx nodded. "Yeah, a beach party. We can play in the sand and I'll teach you all how to swim, that way you won't be afraid of falling in the ocean anymore. Just fun in the sun, all day. Even heroes need a break off, right?"
"Right!" all the children cheered. "A beech parteeeeeee!"
The children ran rampant on the tiny beach, cheering and whooping on the top of their lungs. With Jinx's help, they were barefoot and wearing tiny shirts she had made out of palm leaves, just like a bathing suit would. Starfire's looked more like a tiny dress, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. The kids squealed as they bathed in the sun, grins stretched on their faces.
Jinx ran alongside them, barefoot like the rest of them, holding a small stick as her sword. She had wrapped part of her cape around her head, covering one of her eyes like a pirate. Baring her teeth, she whooped into the air.
"Arrgh!" she yelled out, punting her fist in the air. "I'm a scary pirate, ready to set ye boats on fire!"
The Titan children squealed and ran away, giggling as they scrambled in the sand. Jinx pounced on the first kid she saw, which happened to be Cyborg. She playfully bit his arm and held him down.
"I get ye! Ye is my prisoner now!" Jinx yelled, holding the little boy up in the air.
Cyborg yelled and kicked his feet, unable to hold back his roaring laughter. "Put meah down! Put meah down!"
"Never!" Jinx roared, putting him on her shoulders and twirling him around. "You are mine and mine alone!"
Cyborg kept laughing, patting on her back as he shrieked. The other Titan children ran over to her and grabbed at her legs, trying to pull her onto the ground. Starfire climbed onto her back and tugged on Cyborg, and with that, Jinx lost her balance and toppled over in the sand. She let out a small yelp as small children butts landed on her torso.
"We have defeated the pi-rate!" Starfire laughed, taking the stick from Jinx and waving it in the air.
Robin stared at Starfire and then suddenly, he snatched the stick from her and flipped backwards- away from them. Jinx watched in stunned surprise, while Starfire shrieked in fury and chased after him, flying as fast as she could.
The rest of the day was filled with loud shrieks of laughter and cries of joy, making it sound more like an actual beach than a deserted island. When the children got tired of yelling and chasing each other with sticks, they plopped down beside Jinx and started to build sandcastles.
Of course, Jinx's castle looked like something that came out of a dog's ass. It was terrible. She couldn't help but laugh at it as she was building it, the sand was crumbling between her fingers and piling at the base. Cyborg's, however, looked like it belonged in Sandcastle Catalogs. It looked like a palace. The little robot was so proud of himself, even building a little moat around it so that the ants wouldn't knock it over.
Starfire and Robin seemed to be occupied in their own world. They lobbed sand at one another, destroyed each other's castles and poked each other's arms and necks. Eventually, Robin jumped on Starfire and the two of them got into a wrestling match, accidently stumbling onto Cyborg's amazing sandcastle palace. The little boy shrieked and pounced on the two of them. Robin subsequently got his face mashed into the sand while Starfire got her hair tugged. The three of them wrestled until they had dug an entire hole in the sand.
Beast Boy, on the other hand, was staring intently at the water. He wobbled up to the edge of the tide and gently put a toe in, made a garbled shrieking noise, and turned back and ran up the shore as fast as he could. Then he would do it again. Jinx watched him, scrunching up her eyebrows in confusion. What was the idiot doing?
She got up from her shady spot and walked over to him. Beast Boy suddenly turned and crashed into her legs, nearly tripping her in the process. "Beast Boy?!"
"Jink! Jink!" the little changeling stammered, quickly getting to his feet and brushing himself off. "I was twying ta swim... "
"You don't know how to swim, kid?" Jinx asked disgustedly. Raven didn't teach the kids how to paddle in the water like puppies? What good would that do?
Beast Boy shook his head and glanced at the ocean water. "No. Swim hard. I jus' change to an fishy instead."
The rest of the Titans stopped fighting one another for a moment and waddled to where they were, shaking the sand from their hair and suits. Starfire floated over Beast Boy to the water, where she stared at it curiously. Cyborg just looked spooked by it, and Robin nodded his head to Jinx.
"We no swim." he said clearly. "We jus' hang onto Beast Boy's back. Sometime he a whale. Sometime he a fish. Or a birdie."
"A perdi-dactal!" Cyborg crowed.
Jinx chuckled. "A pterodactyl. I saw that. But seriously, you guys should learn how to swim. You might not have Beast Boy to protect you the next time you fall in an ocean."
The children nodded, standing at the edge of the ocean with their toes slightly dipped into the cold water. Jinx bit her lip and waded in the water herself, hissing as the colder water hit her thighs. After a second it became warmer, and she turned and faced the tiny Titans on shore.
"Well." she began, her hands on her hips. "Come on in!"
The kids were hesitant at first. Starfire slowly flew over the ocean over to her, and ever so slightly, started to fall towards the water. She squealed as her toes disappeared in the blue, than her hips. She held out her arms for assistance, and Jinx held onto her as she bobbed in the water. Starfire splashed her arms around in the water, surprised that she was still above the water instead of plunging below the surface. With a wide grin, she kicked her tiny feet.
"Jink, wook, I am swimming!" she cheered joyfully.
Jinx laughed, unable to hold in her bubble of laughter. "Yeah, you are. Just relax and try to keep your body light. Can you do that for me Starfire? It's just like you're flying, but in water."
As soon as the other children saw Starfire paddling around in the ocean, they wanted to join in. Splashing into the ocean, they spluttered in the ocean water until Jinx came over to help them. The sun was high up in the sky and it warmed the water, making it feel as warm as soup. Jinx helped each of the children swim by holding them up in the water and letting them kick their legs playfully. She demonstrated different strokes for them and patiently waited for them to grasp them.
Each minute was spent with something that Jinx realized she had been missing: something that resembled friendship. Even if it was a bunch of kids, she still felt as though she was part of the group. She wasn't judged with them. The Titan children didn't care that she was a convict or that her powers bought bad luck upon anyone she met- they seemed to love her almost as much as they loved Raven.
Beast Boy squeaked as Cyborg lifted him up onto his shoulders, almost like how a big brother would do. The little changeling transformed into various fishes and other ocean animals, swimming around the group and squirting them with water. Robin and Starfire got into a splashing war, both of them waging against Jinx and completely dousing her with saltwater.
Before Jinx knew it, the sun was setting just over the horizon. As she ushered the kids out of the water, she couldn't help but feel a small twinge of sadness that the marvelous day had ended. As all the kids started to settle onto the sand, clutching some fruits they found high up in the trees, they started to yawn sleepily and rub at their eyes. Starfire looked so strange with her red hair tied up in a really crappy braid, the only thing that Jinx remembered how to do.
Jinx relaxed against the stone she was lying against, her body relaxing in the sand and her head resting on the rock. She watched the kids, trying her best to stay awake. The Titans were mostly asleep, she realized; they were nodding off in the sand, their leaf blankets wrapped tightly around them as they slept. She was on the brink of falling asleep herself.
Something gently tugged on her arm, and she sluggishly opened her eyes.
It was Beast Boy. He was sitting near her arm, his leafy blanket clutched in his one hand. The look on his face was concerned, as though he just witnessed something horrible and he needed to get the truth out. Jinx sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. "What is it, Beast Boy?"
"I haf a question." Beast Boy whispered, his voice low so he wouldn't wake the other Titans.
"Okay." Jinx leaned against the rock, (almost) fully awake now.
Beast Boy fiddled with his fingers. "Raben isn't coming back is she?"
Jinx blinked, caught off guard. Well, now at least she could say he had her full attention. "What do you mean, Beast Boy?"
"Raben is gone." Beast Boy sounded sad, his tiny lip quivering. "She sunked in the big waters. I saws her disappear in the water. She died, Jink."
Jinx stared at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend what he just said to her. The kid just told her that Raven was dead, as calmly as an adult would be. She sat there, at a loss for words. For once in her life, she wasn't sure what to do next. She wasn't sure whether to lie to him or just tell him how it was- it was almost ironic.
"I'm sorry." Jinx finally said, unable to say anything else. What was there to say?
Beast Boy let out a small choked sob. "I knews it. I knews she was gone."
Jinx shook her head, feeling a small pang of guilt shoot through her heart. "Sometimes.. sometimes things happen, Beast Boy. You can't control them, even though you wish you could. Sometimes you're helpless to the bad things that happen."
The little changeling sniveled, large tears streaking down his little face and plopping in the sand. "I miss 'er. Raben was my fwiend."
"She loved you guys too." Jinx said softly. Beast Boy crawled into her arms, and she hugged him without hesitation. How many times had she been sad and scared back at the orphanage as a child, safe only when the caretaker rocked her to sleep at night? She had always been scared of her bad luck powers... the very power that gave her the nickname she wore now. There hadn't been a lot of people that comforted her when she was younger, and she wasn't about to let Beast Boy suffer the same fate, even if he was an enemy.
Beast Boy let out a loud sob and buried himself in her chest, muffling his cries. His tiny body shook as he cried, and Jinx closed her eyes and fought back tears herself. The kid understood the concept of death and love. He understood what it meant when someone dies- that they're gone and they won't come back.
He understood that Raven was gone, and wasn't coming back.
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