Shadow
Chapter One: Gone
By: Angel Vanilla
Story Summary: Three years ago, the Titans broke up after two of it's members went missing. But then two girls abruptly show up in Gotham City. Are they good? Evil? And most importantly: are they the two missing Titans?
Story Genre(s): General
Rating: PG-13/T
Story Pairing(s): Raven/Robin, Starfire/Speedy, Cyborg/Jinx, Beast Boy/Terra
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Wish I did.
Note(s): I'm sorry for not working on Fall to Pieces, but I have an intense writer's block… Any ideas for that story would be appreciated. Thank you! And I'm sorry about how I tend to switch tenses. It's something I really need to work on. Reviews are appreciated!
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Everyone thought that the Teen Titans were invincible. Everyone thought that we would never break up. Everyone thought that we could face any challenge placed before them. Everyone thought we couldn't die.
They were wrong...
We broke up three years ago. That was after they died. Well, disappeared more accurately. The two of them were in the tower, by themselves. I was shopping for new parts for the T-Car, Beast Boy was visiting Terra (the statue of her), and Robin was out on patrol duty.
We weren't really sure what happened. All that we know is someone was there, besides the two girls while we were out. The Tower was completely trashed, and there was no sign of Starfire and Raven anywhere.
We looked for them for weeks, calling everyone we could think of. We questioned every criminal in Jump City, and the four closest cities. But finally, we had to face that the chances of them coming back were very slim.
The last time the three of us saw each other was at the funeral. Probably another reason we didn't speak to each other. It would have brought back to many memories.
I know that afterwards, Beast Boy moved to Silver City to look for a cure for Terra. I went back to Steel City and opened my own tech company. Neither of us is completely sure what happened to Robin, but now there's a new hero in Gotham City. Nightwing. The chances of that not being him are about as big as the chances of the two girls coming back.
I found a way to make myself human again. Well, look like a human. I still have all my tech, even though no one looking at me would guess that I used to be Cyborg, one of the Teen Titans. Now I'm just Victor Stone.
I don't have a lot of close friends. I tend to distance myself from people a bit ever since the team broke up. I guess I'm just scared of losing a friend again.
I usually try not to think about them. Any of them—not Robin or Beast Boy, or Raven and Starfire. It's not something I'd like to remember—it just hurts to much to think about them. They're part of my past now, anyways.
We knew we could get hurt, and we told ourselves we could die, but I know none of us really believed it. Sure, we've all come pretty close to dying, but we got out of it okay. If only Raven and Starfire could have, too…
I think we all knew that we couldn't stay together as a team after the girls disappeared. We all knew it would hurt too much to go out and fight crime without them. Not only that, but without them, we sorta got our butts kicked. So even though we knew they wouldn't want us to break up over them, we went out separate ways, leaving the protection of Jump City to the police.
Now I'm in Silver City, looking for a cure for Terra. I haven't made much progress, although I'm positive that there must be a way to reverse the effects. I just don't know what it is yet. But I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.
I keep expecting Raven and Starfire to jump out at me from behind a bush or something and shout, "April Fool's!" But I know they won't. They're gone, and no amount of wishing can change that. They've been gone for three years. It's kinda unlikely that they're just gonna show up anytime soon, although we'd really like that. If that did happen, maybe we could be friends again. But who am I kidding? They're gone, and they're never gonna come back, even if we want them to. There's just no way; they're both gone…
When the Titans broke up three years ago, something none of us ever dreamt would happen, I didn't want us to. Of course it hurt to be with them, and try to act like everything was normal when nothing would be the same for us ever again. But Raven and Star wouldn't have wanted us to break up. They would've tried to keep us all together if one of us had died instead of them.
I know the others probably don't think about them, it probably hurts them too much. But I want to remember them. I don't want to forget simply because I'm too weak. Sometimes I am—but I still want to remember them, remember the time when we were all friends, and we lived in the tower together. I want to remember everything.
There's a picture of all of us—including Terra—on my desk at Wayne, Inc. We're all smiling, even Raven. It reminds me of when we didn't have any worries at all, when we thought we would live forever, that we were immortal. After all, we were the good guys, and how often did the good guys die and get a bad ending? I guess it was just our luck.
I work alongside Batman, or Bruce Wayne (my mentor) as Nightwing now. I work at his company, and live at Wayne Manor with him and Alfred. Just like old times—before I'd met Raven and formed the Titans…
Every weekend I drive down to the cemetery and visit their graves. I remember the funeral, and it was the first time I'd seen Cyborg and Beast Boy cry. I did, too. But only when I was by myself, locked in my room, where no one could see me. I know it's nothing to be ashamed of, it's only natural to cry when someone close to you dies. And it was two for the Titans. Two of our team mates, our best friends, our family.
When I visit on Saturday, I always bring flowers. Usually something pink for Starfire, and something red or purple for Raven. It's not exactly a perfect life I have now, but it's good. I'm as happy as I can be, considering what happened. And even though it hurts, I don't want to forget any of it. I don't want to forget them…
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