Italics are thoughts. Yadda yadda yadda. You get my drift, right?
Setsuna stood at the starting line while Raven and Robin finished programming the obstacle course. BB and Cy were already cheering her on from the sidelines, assuring her that she had nothing to fear. She didn't know about that. A feeling of apprehension raced through her veins. Chaos was what she called her power, because that was what the voices called it. For whenever she used this power, voices surged through her mind, drowning out everything but the focus she wanted, and chanting that word in a lulling song that captured her in its vastness. She looked to the two cheering teens for comfort and they flashed her two of their biggest smiles.
"Go on girl, you can do it. Let's see what ya got!!!" Cy was pumping his hands into the air. She nodded shakily and turned back to the starting line.
"Are you ready?" Robin glanced at the tanned girl, who seemed to be caught somewhere between a laugh of eagerness, and the desire to throw up. She nodded at him; face tilted up towards the sun as she tried to let its warmth re-infuse her. You can do this. There's nothing to worry about. You're physically fit, and you've got a good handle on your powers.
"Go!!" Robin screamed, and it was on. Setsuna took off running as large metal disks began shooting from every direction. Explosions of stone had her dodging left and right. Not yet. Not yet! A large rock clipped her in the forehead. Another came firing after the first, but suddenly she turned to face it. There seemed to be maroon bolts of electricity surrounded her, flashing like the wrath of a god. It shot out at the rock, causing it to explode into a thousand fragments. Beast boy and Cyborg cheered, doing odd victory dances that would have had her on the floor laughing if she hadn't been dodging laser guns at the time. Little by little, she let them see what she could do, creating mayhem on the course with one object at a time. But she was fast growing tired of taking out one object and having two more replace it. She finally decided that enough was enough. After ducking behind a large rock which several disks exploded on, she stopped for just a second. Let it come. Her thoughts raced around each other as she let her power surge throughout her small frame. Chaos. Thousands of voices murmured to her, chasing themselves around her head. All became still. There was nothing here that could harm her. She felt nothing. Not fear. Not anger.
They noticed the difference immediately as she came floating out from behind her large boulder. There was no emotion to her eyes. Even Raven could not keep her emotions from showing in her eyes. Her face and voice never really changed unless she was surprised by something, but she couldn't keep them from showing just the tiniest bit in her eyes. Setsuna, however, seemed almost blind. As several more metal disks hurtled in her direction, she turned to watch them approach, but appeared to disregard them. The others were no longer cheering her on, but staring in horror as one of the disks ripped towards her, intent on smashing her skull. But as they each came within a certain distance from her, they spun off, against all odds. She treated the entire obstacle course in this fashion. The machines that were supposed to shoot the metal disks unaccountably broke down or shorted out. The laser guns suddenly turned on each other and the boulders being launched through the air. When a large chasm opened up at her feet, she took to the air, wiping the emptiness from her face. In its place was a look of fierce joy. Robin clearly heard her from the small microphone he had given her.
"Nothing can hold back chaos. The sky is my domain. My home. My love." A shudder ran up Robin's spine as the passion in her voice coursed through his nerves. They all watched her in silence now, but when she finally finished (leaving the obstacle course in need of major repairs) the most BB could say was "wow."
"Most glorious flying, my friend!! Your joy of flight rivals those of my people. On Tamaran, even a child can know the joys of flight."
"Duuuude. That was awesome!" Beast boy had his arms in the air. "But do your powers always do that? I mean, when you blew up that one rock, almost all of the smaller pieces came flying over here. I had to turn into a turtle to duck and cover."
"Yes. Your powers are very controlled, but they won't do us any good if every time you knock something out of the air, it comes after one of us." Robin hated knocking the look of pride off of the young woman's face, but he had to think for the best of the team.
"Well, they don't always do that. As long as I have a target, then my powers won't ever hurt any of you. You see," she paused to consider her words, trying to think of the best way to make them understand something that was instinctive to her. "My powers are meant to cause the most chaos possible. If I have a target to aim the chaos at, then all of my energy goes towards that target. If I don't have a specific target, then it goes, well......everywhere. Sooooo. Ok, I've got it. Say you're fighting the Hive. I've seen you fight them on the news all the time. You're fighting them, and Mammoth goes to punch one of you. I unleash chaos on him, and he ends up punching himself. Or perhaps he ends up punching Jinx while she's casting one of her hexes, and she in turn hits Gizmo, who's little power pack shorts out and shocks him and any of his team mates near him, taking them out of the action."
The Titans all stared dumbfounded at the girl's statement, and she looked around at them apprehensively, wondering how badly she had done. After their initial shock at such an odd possibility wore off, they all regarded her with different expressions. BB's was one of pained remembrance. Setsuna hadn't been the first one to destroy the course in an attempt to prove herself. Raven's expression was devoid of emotion, as always, but Cyborg was still staring in shock at all of the electronics that she had short-circuited. If she could actually do that to Gizmo, it would make his day. Starfire was clapping her hands in glee. It was Robin, however, who Setsuna locked her gaze on. Would he think she was too much of a danger?
He noted her gaze and smiled his reassurance, eliciting a smile in response. After looking at the others to gain their opinions, he held out his hand to her.
"We're still on a trial basis, but we'd love for you to stay with us. And maybe, if things work out......" He could say no more. Setsuna had reached out to take his hand, an incredulous smile on her face. Somehow, she ended up throwing her arms around him with a cry of joy and burying her face in his chest. She wouldn't cry. She refused to cry in front of anyone if she could help it. But ever since Melissa had come into their lives, she had suffered one disappointment after another. Being abandoned was just the icing on the cake. She had her friends, but she never really let any of them get too close. Letting them get close meant letting them see the heartache that she suffered. Letting anyone get close meant seeing them worry about her, and knowing that even if they had fun for awhile, they would end up feeling bad when she had to go home. Though she always felt sorrowful to return home after having fun with her friends, that didn't mean she had to ruin things for them.
Knowing that these five were willing to give her a chance was something that overwhelmed her senses. Rather than let them see the moisture gathering in the corner of her eyes, she hid behind the only shield available to her.
Robin stood stock still, as though her touch had wiped any possible thought or action from his mind. Raven was amused by the shocked/panicked look on Robin's face, and out of curiosity, she allowed her empathic abilities to wash over Robin. Yes, he was somewhat panicked. Starfire had hugged him before, and he had been a little embarrassed. But this was different. As the girls smooth arms wrapped around him, pinning his own arms to his sides, something akin to an adrenaline rush charged his system. Her fingers gripped the back of his uniform, sending waves of want running through him. Raven pulled her hood up to hide the tiny smirk her round lips had formed. Robin was completely entranced by this girl, who probably didn't have a clue.
Slowly, Robin reached up as far as he could, and gently patted her back, strongly aware of the feel of his arm around her curvaceous waist. Curvaceous? I didn't think I even knew that word. He shifted awkwardly, trying to get her to realize that everyone was staring at them. Finally she pulled back, though she didn't seem embarrassed in the least. She turned to look at them all, her smile of gratitude bringing a smile to everyone else's face. Even Raven's!!!
"Thank you. All of you. I..." She shrugged, completely at a loss for words. Cyborg patted her on the back a couple of times.
"Don't worry about it. We know." She smiled up at him, and then back at the others. Once this was settled, it was decided that Starfire and Raven would take her out to find furnishings for her room, and help her replenish her wardrobe. While it was true she had bought some clothes at the sale, it's no surprise to anyone that even on sale the mall's clothes could be fairly expensive. While they were out, Setsuna had rarely a moment to pause and consider her good fortune. She wasn't one to go crazy over shopping, but she couldn't deny the fun she was having looking around at all the crazy room decorations available. And the clothes that Star kept choosing for her were far outside the range of clothes she normally wore. Skirts weren't really her thing; she never had enough occasions to dress special. In Star's opinion, you didn't need a special occasion to show off a particularly lovely skirt. As long as it looked good on you, you might as well have fun with it. And Setsuna did let the red haired alien talk her into several beautiful skirts and dresses, both full length, and what could be classified as a miniskirt.
Once they had gotten back, unpacked everything, and gotten rid of all the trash, it was late enough to think about dinner. To head off an argument that was sure to develop, Raven declared irritably that they all head out for pizza. Oddly though, Setsuna declined.
"I really appreciate it, but I'd rather get my room squared away. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and have that stuff spread out all over my floor for me to trip over and break." They nodded their heads respectfully, and were about to head out, when Robin also decided to stay behind.
"I've still got some research to do. Not to mention I promised the chief of police I'd send him a report on our last take-down of Cinderblock. They need to tighten up security in that place. I don't see how they can keep letting him escape." The others were surprised, but unwilling to give up on pizza, and a well deserved night out, they promised to bring some back, and headed for the car.
Robin stood in the doorway, watching his team-mates take off. Then he turned to face the only other person in the tower. He wasn't exactly sure why he had wanted to stay behind, but what he had said about further work was an out and out lie. The only thing he knew was that he'd experienced a vague need to stay behind if she was going to. No, it doesn't' have anything to do with her. Does it?
Well, what do you think will happen? Is Robin falling for this lady of chaos? And does she have any feelings for him? Review any ideas, criticisms, or praise. I am eager to hear your words of wisdom (or your crushing insults. Heh heh.)