Chapter Three: The King is a Clorbag

Quick Sticky: Blackfire is not evil in this fic. I'm sorry I haven't updated Never Leave yet, I have writer's block and it's horrible. B.B. has just arrived in L.A. and I don't know where to go from there. I'll put Chapter Nine: Tofu and Roses up as soon as possible, I promise. In the Meantime, this shall have tosuffice for my readers.

Later on that day the skies had grown cloudy as a woman in a blue gray dress approached the chapel located on the King's country estate. The Queen Mother went in followed by a priestess who was also her attendant. She quietly knelt down at the altar where, to her slight surprise, a beautiful red rose had been placed.

She looked around but saw no one except the priestess with her in the candlelit room. Meanwhile, the captain of the Titans stood from afar, watching her intently. Turning away, he went back to his office. He began to be busy with his work as the Queen Mother Blackfire was walking by his office. Her attendant stopped at the door.

"She wishes a word with you," the attendant said quietly. Aqualad looked up as the Queen approached him.

"M'lady...?" he asked respectfully.

"I understand you saved my son's life today," she began quietly.

"X'hal smiled upon us, Your Majesty," he replied.

"And you were not hurt?" she inquired.

"No, M'lady," he answered.

"That is good," she said. He bowed to her and she departed. He then began going through his papers.

Lieutenant Cyborg walked in with a letter in his hand. "Sir, I came to inform you that Speedy has withdrawn his commission to join the Titans." Aqualad looked disturbed and looked at the letter. He tucked it into his coat pocket and walked out of his office.

Starfire stood at her window, Gorka Pipes in hand; she was quietly humming a soft tune as she began to play the same haunting melody she had been previously humming. Sweet music filled the air, a melodic, haunting tune that held a note of slight sadness to it; she played it with emotion and feeling, as was a part of her culture to be very emotionally involved in all things. Hearing footsteps behind her, she stopped and turned.

"Aqualad!" she exclaimed with surprise.

The captain of the Titans smiled. "You have improved."

"It has been so long!" she asked, delighted surprise filling her voice. "What is the occasion?" She put the Gorka Pipes into their case.

"Like you said, it's been too long," he smiled. She walked over to him and kissed his cheeks in greeting.

"When the great Aqualad visits he must be offered the best wine," she walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle.

"And if the great Starfire offers, then the great Aqualad must drink," Aqualad replied, taking a seat at a large table. Starfire's house was rather modest for one so renowned with fame and prestige, but she was a gracious host who was very considerate of guests.

She joined him at the table. "I am sorry I haven't been able to see you lately, my friend."

"Head of the King's Bodyguards, that must keep you busy," Starfire poured the wine and looked at her long time companion. "Especially with this King; how many times have you saved his life in this year alone? Three?"

"Four," Aqualad corrected. "An Azarathian nearly assassinated him earlier today."

"Yes, I can see you are kept busy," she said half to herself.

"Still, I should have come by to see you more often," Aqualad said with sincerity. They clanked their cups against one another's in a toast.

"Psssh," Starfire said flippantly, "I belong to the past, when the uniforms were black and grown men and women wore them." Starfire sipped her wine.

"At least it gives you more time to practice your Gorka Pipes," Aqualad smiled.

"And feel sorry for myself. My son is grown, he is engaged to a wonderful girl, he has joined the Titans, all the errors of my life are made right in him, and now for the life I have always whished him," Starfire gave a sigh, "He is leaving my home. Now he has complete happiness, and I mope."

"Starfire…" Aqualad began. There was some noise at the door; the two friends looked up.

"Ah, out celebrating all night." Starfire smiled as Speedy walked through the door. "Speedy; look who has come to visit!" She noticed the look on her son's face. "What is the matter?"

Speedy placed the engagement ring that she had given him earlier back into her hands. "I cannot risk making her a widow just as I ask to make her a wife." He looked at his Mother. "I've been recalled to my regiment."

"But this makes no sense, you have already served at the front," Starfire looked concerned. "Has there been some disaster?" She looked at Aqualad, a suspicion forming in her mind about the motives behind his visit. "Has everyone else been recalled?"

"I believe the King's eye has fallen on Terra," Speedy said. Starfire was alarmed now.

"It's true, the King has noticed her but I don't think it has anything to do with Speedy—"

"It has everything to do with it. The King is a clorbag!" Starfire said, anger creeping into her voice.

"Starfire—" Aqualad began, but she interrupted him.

"A clorbag and a coward!" she finished.

"But I am neither and so I go." Speedy turned to leave the room.

"Speedy," Starfire grabbed his arm. He gently shook it off and left the room. The retired Titan turned to Aqualad.

"Does the King have trouble finding women? Does he have trouble filling his bed?" Starfire's voice became angry. "I served his Father, and before I retired I served him. Now to seduce a woman, who will mean nothing to him once he has had her, he would put my son's life in danger?" Aqualad said nothing.

"You knew," she said in a low voice. "You knew! And that's why you came!"

"I knew your temper," Aqualad said quickly.

"You came to restrain me?" Starfire asked angrily.

"I came to bring you hope!" Aqualad said earnestly. "I will speak to the King personally. I have not given up faith that he may be come the King we all wish him to be."

"You do not know what it is like to have a son; to have kissed his hair and smelled his breath as he slept, to have watched him grow."

"Yes, K'Norfkahood is a blessing I can only imagine," Aqualad said sympathetically.

Starfire placed her hands on Aqualad's shoulders. "I have never known a finer man than you nor cared more for a friend, but if this King harms my son merely to take a lover; then this King will become my enemy. And so will any man who stands between that enemy and me."

"Then I must hurry. For I treasure your son, as I treasure you." He turned and left. Starfire watched him go. She could only stare out the door in silence.

Titans were retreating back towards the gates of Red-X's palace in a panic. Some were retreating as fast as they could as an angry mob shouted curses at them. Some were not so lucky and were caught by the crowd and beaten.

"Back to the Palace!" Lieutenant Cyborg ordered. "Move!" He watched in horror as some of his men stumbled and as the rioters began to beat them with sticks, any weapon they could get their hands on.

Aqualad came speeding out on his motorcycle. "Sir," Cyborg shouted, getting his attention. "The people are saying the food the King ordered us to distribute to them is rotten. They're attacking Titans all over the City!"

The crowd was pounding one Titan into the street while some of the people in the mob managed to disarm them. One man fired the blaster at Cyborg. His aim was poor and he missed, but not by much that Cyborg wasn't without worry.

To prove his point Cyborg pointed to the mob that was quickly making its way towards the Palace. "We'll fire a volley into them," he suggested.

"No, run to the Palace and close the gates! Do not fire!" he commanded the lieutenant. Cyborg did as he was ordered and ran back to the gate, Sonic Cannon at the ready. They closed the gates and locked them as Aqualad made his way towards the crowd that had gathered outside the Palace gate. A row of Titans stood; blasters ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Among the shouts and curses, there was a young man who recognized him and the murmuring began. "It's Aqualad, the Captain of the Titans."

"One Titan can't stop us!" a ruffian yelled.

"Stop you? You are a Markovian, I am one of you!" he protested.

"Listen to me, people, listen to me, I beg you!" The crowd roared angry insults at him.

"We're starving!" a woman in ragged clothes shouted.

"They give us garbage, not even fit for rats!" a man screamed. The roaring of voices continued for what seemed like an eternity; then someone hurled a rotten beet, aiming for Aqualad's head. Aqualad concentrated and water spewed forth from his hands, skewering the beet.

"Oooo!" the crowd said, amazed. Someone threw a head of lettuce and he used his superpower to neatly slice it in half.

"I'm on my way to a salad! Doesn't anybody have any endive?" The rioters laughed at his sense of humor. Another head of lettuce came out of nowhere and he blasted it into two clean pieces. "Anyone have a tomato?" Some one threw a tomato, instead of skewering it, he caught it with ease.

The crowd "Awwed" at this feat, amazed at his skill. Aqualad bit off a small portion and tasted it. His face contorted with disgust. He spat it out.

"You are right. It is rotten. I will speak to the King myself. You have my word on it." The rioters began to dissipate, satisfied with what Aqualad had told them. Some rioters still had a hold of some of the injured Titans. "And you will release those men—they serve Markovia... and you."

They did as they were told and departed. The injured Titans looked at their captain gratefully as he drove his motorcycle into the Palace through the gates. Others helped their wounded.

Once Aqualad was inside the Palace he headed towards the King's bedroom. Congregated outside the door were his advisors, including Mammoth who had inadvertently and unintentionally advised the King to distribute the rotten food. Aqualad walked by them and headed towards a hallway. Removing a tapestry, he revealed a secret doorway. Opening it, he disappeared and the tapestry fell back against the wall concealing the passageway's existence.

In a bedroom, Red-X was making love with one of his many mistresses, (I am not going into detail here; you people with icky imaginations can imagine all you want. I don't write lemons, you icky people). There were loud groans as he finished.

"Oh Red-X," the young girl said in an exhausted voice. "You were right. A woman has never known love, until she has known the love of a King."

"I'm hungry," he said to himself. She looked up at him.

"I'll have some food brought," she pulled the blankets up over her naked body.

"I prefer to eat alone," he said, climbing out of bed using the covers as a shield as he slipped into a red silk robe embroidered with gold. He wrapped it around himself. "By the way, you'll be leaving tomorrow," he said as he exited the room walking through a portrait into a secret passageway.

He stepped out into a hallway and walked towards a table with a plate of fine foods on it. He was just about to start eating when Aqualad stepped out from behind the portrait of his Father, Red-X XIII. He jumped, startled.

"These passages were constructed for the King's security, not so you could startle me to death!"

"It is for your security that I have come, Your Majesty," Aqualad began.

"I already know about the rioting," Red-X said.

"Your people are anxious to love you," Aqualad continued. "But they are eating rotten food and sometimes none at all.

Red-X looked thoughtful. "Rotten food, well I'll deal with that decisively."

"Then there is one more thing, of an even more personal nature, Your Majesty."

"A more personal nature?" the King asked.

"You are constantly surrounded by beautiful women. Do you love any of them?"

"Quite frequently, actually," he let out a chuckle.

"And do they love you? How do you know that when a woman gives you her most intimate embrace, it is you and not your crown that she pulls to her heart," Aqualad said bluntly.

"You think my affairs are empty," Red-X said.

"I believe that a man can love one woman all his life and be the better for it…yes," Aqualad said simply.

"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I haven't found a woman with a heart like my own, until recently," Red-X said.

"Would that be Terra?" Aqualad asked blatantly.

"It is a good thing you watch me, Aqualad, but I fear you watch me too closely," his voice held a hint of anger in it.

"Did you send Speedy off to the war so you could be free to pursue her?" he asked.

"Speedy will return soon," Red-X reassured him. "You have my word." Aqualad began to walk away. "Aqualad." The Captain of the Titans stopped. "I am a young, King, but I am King."

"Then be a good King, Your Majesty," Aqualad bowed and walked away.

He turned and walked over to the advisors who were congregated outside his room. He took the advisor's sash off of Mammoth's neck and placed it around Gizmo's.

"You're the new advisor; execute him for distributing rotten food!" He commanded Gizmo. Mammoth paled at the words but said nothing. Red-X opened doors to his bedchamber and shut them behind him. He opened them a moment later.

"And the next time there are rioters, shoot them!" He shut the door behind him.

Mammoth looked at Gizmo and Gizmo said nothing and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked at his friend sympathetically as he had guards usher him away.

Quick Sticky: Please tell me in your reviews if I have misspelled K'Norfkahood.