Hi. I feel pretty good. As good as a depressed guy can get I guess. I have recently found the joy of Screamo music, and I can say I love it so much. Most people wouldn't like it probably, but I think that it kicks ass. Also, I just feel better because of another certain author that I talk to online. She's... a better friend than I could have hoped for, even if I only know her online. Anyways, time for a chapter that explains something. A lot has happened in these first five chapters, especially the last two. Now it's time for some explanations. I know the Taen being an alien thing may have been a little stupid, but I liked it. I don't know, maybe you liked it as well. But sit back and enjoy... Don't forget to review.

I do not own Teen Titans.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: The Past Revealed

Raven's View

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Unless she was somehow mistaken, Taen had just told her that he was an alien. It had to be a joke. But no, Taen's face was as serious as she had ever seen it. And it explained so much. The marks, the hair color, his powers. Everything she had ever wondered about. Taen hadn't moved a muscle. He was staring at her with an intense gaze, still as a statue. She opened her mouth to speak, but snapped it shut as Taen finally moved.

Raven watched him as he walked over to the edge of the building that they were on. He was observing the area. She looked over to where the large Supergroup tower was. She began to wonder what the team was doing. She would miss them a great deal. They were truly a great bunch of kids. 'They might have been able to help' Raven thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by Taen's quiet voice.

"We need to get back to Titans tower as soon as possible. We have to find out what's happened, and I have to tell all of you something," He said. Raven continued to stare at him, but said nothing. She almost wanted to ask him to tell her first, but decided against it. She had been patient, and didn't want to ruin that. She could wait a little while as they flew to Titans tower. Raven nodded her head, now wanting to be left in the silence that Taen created. He reached out and gripped her hand. She could feel him shaking slightly as he looked to the sky. He teleported them in an instant.

"Thank you," She said as they appeared in the air. Taen let go of her without a word, and began to fly towards Jump city. Raven quickly followed, moving as fast as she could. Taen's speed was slower than usual, so she was able to catch up. He had gotten beat up pretty good. She was surprised that he was able to fly at all. Flying up next to him, she put some concentration into her mind reading. It was time to figure out what he was feeling. Even if it meant that she had to violate their mind reading rules against one another.

Taen's mind was a jumble of questions, as usual. He wasn't bothering to block it even the slightest bit. Flashes of thoughts flew by. She caught several words. Mentions of Sai were common, as well as Sinister. Raven continued to probe. She could tell that he was very angry. She understood. He had lost a fight. A fight in which he barely even landed a single hit. How was it possible that someone could be that powerful? 'And that was only the apprentice' Raven realized. Slade must be stronger than they thought. Raven stopped her own thinking when she heard a familiar thing. "Tamaran," She whispered aloud. Raven silently thought what Starfire's home world had to do with Taen's past. She stopped thinking. It was beginning to give her a head ache. Instead, she focused on her flying.

It felt like forever. Taen hadn't said a word for the entire journey. They didn't even stop for a bathroom break or anything. It didn't matter though, stopping seemed like a bad idea. Sai could be following them, and Taen was in no condition for a fight against him. Raven looked ahead in the dark, and saw Titans tower. The living room lights were on, even though it was late. Something had to be wrong if everyone was up that late. Raven and Taen didn't bother with the door. He grabbed onto her and teleported them inside, where they were greeted by several stares.

"What happened?" Starfire asked. The others looks at Taen, who's uniform had been torn and who had dried blood going from the corner of his lip. Starfire's eyes were red, and it looked as if she had been crying. Beast Boy was sitting on the counter, looking dizzy. His own uniform had been trashed, and he looked like hell. Cyborg was the only one who looked unhurt, and was holding a piece of the Tv. Taen did not answer the question. Raven began to, but noticed something.

"Where's Robin?" She asked quickly. No one answered her. All of their heads drooped, and Raven's thoughts drifted back to her dream. It couldn't have been true... "I'll show you," Cyborg said. Raven looked at Taen, and she could tell that he knew something was wrong as well. Everyone walked to the back room, where medical procedures were done. Raven looked around the room for Robin. He was not in a bed, but in a tube. It stood upright and in the corner. There were no machines hooked up to it. That wasn't good. And he looked almost blue through the clear glass.

"He's dead. How?" Taen said in a monotone. Raven stared at him in shock. Taen generally took the others feelings into consideration. He spoke as if it was no big deal. "Slade and his cronies. They attacked the Tower. Took all of the Stek that we were hiding. And Robin-" "Got killed because of me!" Starfire yelled. She had begun to cry, causing Raven to stare at her in shock.

"It wasn't your fault," Raven said in a soft tone. Starfire looked up at her glaring. Raven was taken aback. She had never seen the alien girl look so angry. "You would not know. You were not even here!" She yelled. Starfire took a step towards Raven, her eyes glowing green, teeth grinding loudly. Taen quickly stepped in between them, holding his hand in front of Starfire.

"Calm down Star. Don't get mad at us because we weren't here," He said. Starfire turned to glare at him. "If you were here, Robin may have lived! We were all here trying to save the city while you were away in Praysair having a vacation!" She screamed at him. Taen didn't even flinch. "Before you decide to hurt us, perhaps you would like to hear about how Slade's new apprentice almost killed Raven and I," Taen said calmly.

Starfire's eyes stopped glowing, and you could see the regret etched on her face. Beast Boy and Cyborg's mouths were hanging wide open. "Apprentice? Another one?" Cyborg asked. Taen looked at the three of them seriously. "Yes. He attacked us, and got your other car. We barely got away with our lives," Taen told them. "Woah. You mean to tell us that this guy was able to take you on?" A disbelieving Beast Boy asked. Taen nodded. "I need to tell you all something. Come with me," Taen said as he exited the room.

Raven followed the others, being cautious of Starfire. He led them back to the living room, where he stood in front of the couch. The same spot where he had spoke about his situation months earlier. Assuming he wanted them to take a seat, Raven sat down in front of Taen. The others quickly followed suit. Taen paced back and forth for a few moments, and then began to speak.

"I have not been honest with all of you. I've never told you about my past. About my life before the Supergroup. I believe that it is time for all of you to find out what I have been through," He said. Taen took a brief pause, and Raven good tell that he was attempting to figure out where he should start. "I was not born on this planet. I was born on a distant place called Zari. It is not too far from Tamaran," Taen said, stopping in front of Starfire.

"Why have I not heard of it?" She asked. Taen let out a deep breath. "It most likely is no longer there. Possibly destroyed. Not many people knew of it anyways," He told her. Starfire nodded. "Continue," She said. "Everything was fine until the plague came shortly after my birth. A disease that destroyed almost all of our people. I was spared, but lost many friends and family. A cure was found, but by then, the disease had killed all that were vulnerable. Soon, a disagreement came upon what to do. Several Zarin suggested moving to a different planet, but we did not do that. It all came down to cloning. Many thought it was a good way to restore our population, and many thought otherwise. There was a large dispute, and this led to the separation of the planet. X and Z. In a way, we were branded. The Z on my back is because I belong to the group against cloning. As much as the others would have liked to clone, there was no X scientist that could do it right. My father was the only man alive who could correctly clone anybody."

Taen stopped to observe their reactions. None of the Titans seemed too shocked, but you could tell that they were rather interested. So Taen went on. "As a Zarin, you begin combat training at a young age. Developing your powers as a small child is important. By the time I was eleven years old, I was fully trained for war. In fact, I was out on my first mission, to search and destroy, when I found a boy slightly older than me. He was covered in blood. I took him to my camp, where he explained that someone had killed everyone at his own camp. That boy's name was Sai, the same Sai who tried to kill me and Raven earlier today. The same one who is now Slade's apprentice" Taen said.

"He's Zarin too?" Beast Boy asked. Taen nodded. "Yes, and he bears no mark. That means that he is a clone. One of the first and only ones ever created and, according to my father, his DNA came from the ruler of our planet. An interesting idea... I only knew him for a few months, and we were never close. But soon it wouldn't matter. We were told to leave the planet. Anyone under the age of sixteen had to leave for a safe place. Apparently, years of bombs and chemicals all over the place had made our planet unstable. It was going to explode. The boys were to head to Earth, where we took our language from and had people that we looked alike. The girls were to go to Tamaran, as they looked more Tamaranian than human. Oddly enough, Sai and I were the only boys who made it to the departure point in time. We had to take off. Our journey was smooth, and the girls was not. They never made it to Tamaran," Taen spoke gloomily.

"What happened to them?" Starfire asked curiously. Taen walked over to the window, staring up into the night sky. "I'm not sure. Their ship exploded a day before they reached their destination. Sai didn't seem to unnerved by it, but I found it strange. I had no time to worry though, because we would soon reach Earth. However, Sai tried to kill me before we landed," He said darkly.

"Man, why'd he try that?" Cyborg asked surprised. "I think he didn't like me too much. But he was obviously unsuccessful. The scar on his face will always be a reminder of that day," Taen told them as he slid a finger across his sword. "I exited the ship as soon as we got into the atmosphere. I didn't have enough energy to last long, and I crashed into the ground outside of Praysair. A family found me. They took me in, treated me as one of their own. They never knew my true origins. When I was fourteen I left them to become a hero, as I was certainly fit enough to do it. My time on Earth had softened me from the war trained boy I once was. I became a protector, as I always should have been," He said.

"What became of your ship?" Starfire asked. Taen looked stumped for a moment. "I'm not sure what happened after I left. I do know of one thing. The metal that Slade took is not from around here," Taen answered. "Where'd it come from?" Raven asked. "Stek was the name of the ship that me and Sai came here on. It must have crashed outside of your city, buried into the ground for years. Someone found what was left from the crash, saw the name Stek scrawled on the side, and took it. It's a metal with a mind of its own. Extremely light. My sword and Sai's... sais are made out of it," Taen said.

"Why didn't Sai come after you?" Beast Boy asked. "I'm not sure. Over the years I heard of him. A mysterious boy with dark blue hair terrorizing cities. I was waiting for him to come to me, perhaps to finish me off. But it never happened. Part of me thought that I should leave Praysair to find him myself, but I couldn't abandon the people that I had grown to love. But he's here now, and stronger than ever. Even worse, he's working for Slade and, as far as I can tell, he somehow has Sinister's dream powers," Taen said softly.

"He does," Starfire confirmed. Raven's eyes snapped to Taen. "How did you know he had those powers?" She asked urgently. Taen didn't look her in the eyes as he said, "He visited my dreams a few night ago. The events that had happened were too weird to be coincidence. I was expecting an attack on us, but never at the tower. Slade must have been desperate. He's up to something big." Taen paced back and forth, his hand on his chin, giving him a look of deep thought. Taen sat down next to Starfire and put an arm around her.

"Listen everyone. I know it isn't gonna be easy without Robin, but we can't give up. We still have to stop Slade. Robin would want us to continue. That reminds me though. Why exactly was he in that tube? He looked like he was frozen or something," Taen said. Starfire pushed his arm away, and Raven watched her float down the hall. "Where's she going?" Taen asked. Cyborg made sure that Starfire was out of earshot before speaking.

"I think she might've cracked. She seems to be set on the idea that Robin can come back to life. She made us freeze him," Cyborg said. Beast Boy laughed nervously. Raven to thought that the idea was ludicrous. Perhaps Starfire still wasn't used to Earth ways. People just couldn't come back to life like that... Taen was the only one who wore a look of interest. Raven could tell that he didn't think it was insane. Beast Boy beat her to it.

"What is it with aliens and thinking people can be reborn?" He joked. Taen smiled, and Raven felt relief to know that he was still with a sense of humor. "She isn't crazy. You've never studied the Tamaranian culture, I have," He said simply. Raven and the others stared at him in shock. Taen didn't take it any further. "You mad?" He asked Cyborg. The half human gave him a strange look. "Uh- Should I be?" Cyborg said confused. "Well your car got wrecked..." Taen said slowly. Cyborg didn't say much. "I would normally be mad but... there are more important things than cars right now," Cyborg said.

"I never thought you would say that in my life time," Raven muttered. Cyborg smiled at her. "You guys wanna give us a hand at cleaning up?" Beast Boy asked. Raven looked at the smashed tables, pieces of broken glass, and the slightly torn up couch that she was sitting on. "Sure," Taen answered for them. With that, Raven began levitating stuff into the air, placing it where it should go. Taen began to blast pieces into nothing. They finished quickly, and the Tv missing was the only strange part. "I'll replace that myself," Cyborg said. The door opened, and Raven turned to see a slightly better looking Starfire enter the room.

She floated into the center, a thick book clutched in her hands. Raven had never seen Starfire reading. But she obviously had some experience. Raven looked at the cover, which had some strange writing on it. "Life as a Tamaranian Woman?" Taen questioned the title. 'He reads Tamaranian...' Raven realized. Starfire nodded. "It is a book that my mother passed down to me, and it has been very helpful," She answered. "How?" Beast Boy asked... Starfire took a moment before answering seriously, "I believe that I have found a way to bring Robin back."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those crazy Tamaranians! With their weird eating habits, chairs that bite people, and books with techniques on how to bring people back from the dead! I'm hoping I didn't screw anything up in explaining Taen's past. I'm paranoid that I said something before that didn't fit with the explanation. But I don't think that I did. I'll have the next chapter up by the weekend hopefully. Now go on and review, that would be nice. Thanks.

Next Chapter: Starfire begins to train her mind for the risk technique she has discovered. But will she be able to learn it before Slade's next attack?

"Life is but a dream for the dead"

-SinFire