Chapter 4
On the TV that Stuart was watching was a show. Nothing special. Just the same show he always watched. However, there was something different. There was a new character on the show.
"Mommy! It's Aria!" whimpered Stuart. Stuart's mom looked at him.
"That's not your sister. It's just a cartoon! We need to find your realy sister. Where is she?" she questioned as she began to cry.
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Over the next two weeks, Aria got to know the Titans pretty well. She enjoyed the life she lived in Titan Tower. For once in her life, Aria was completely free. There was no homework, no school, no after school activities and no one to tell her what to do and when to do it. She would wake up when she wanted to and go to bed when she wanted to. She made new friends. Aria would do everything with the Titans. She would play football and stank-ball. She would help them take down bad guys too. Aria had seen so many Teen Titans episodes with her little brother, that she knew everything about every bad guy. They tried to find ways to get Aria home, but all the ideas failed. Aria wanted to help out more and began to train some. Robin would help her in the gym and teach her some karate moves.
Even though Aria had hung out with the Titans, laughed with them and seemed like friends with them, she held them at a distance. No one really noticed it except Robin. Robin was training Aria one day when Robin struck up a conversation with Aria to try and find out about her past.
Robin questioned her, "So, what was your life like back home? What's your family like? You never really told any of us about your home life." Aria took a few more punches at a punching bag before answering.
"O you know, regular life. Wake up, go to school, go to sports practices, come home, do homework, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again." She kept punching at her bag and added a few kicks here in there.
"Well, what were your friends like?" Aria's punches intensified. Robin was a little stunned. He had never seen Aria look so angry. She had a look of pure hatred on her face. She concentrated fully on the bag and every punch packed more power then the last. Robin could see that he had asked the wrong question. Aria's eyes began to well up with tears. Aria took a final punch at the bag and ripped it wide open. Robin placed a hand on Aria's shoulder.
"Aria, what is it? You can tell me."
"I'd rather not talk about it." With that, Aria walked out of the training room and went upstairs. Robin was left standing in the room by himself. Why won't she tell me anything? Robin contemplated Something must have happened in her past. She's holding everyone at a distance. She needs a real friend. She needs to open her heart up to someone. There's so much pain; I can feel it. Aria had gone upstairs and into the room that she was temporarily using. She grabbed a pillow and let her tears silently flow. Be strong she thought No one can know! It's no big deal anyways. They'll all just think you're a wimp and a loser. Aria whipped away her tears and went to play some cards with BB, Raven, Cyborg and Starfire.
"Hey, you guys want to deal me in?"
"Yeah, but we thought you and Robin were training?" questioned Cyborg.
"Yeah, I was tired and stopped." They dealt Aria in. They were all laughing and having a grand time when Robin walked in from the training room. He paused and starred at Aria She's smiling now! Just 5 minutes ago she was about to break down. She's hiding something. She won't show us her true feelings. She has a barrier up that needs to be taken down. Robin looked Aria in the eyes for a long while. Aria began to get nervous and look away.
Aria broke the science, "Uhh, BB, it's your turn to deal." Robin walked off to his room as all the Titans stared.
"Ok…what was up with that?" Raven asked Aria. Aria didn't look up from her cards.
"I have no idea. Weird huh?" she replied. The other Titans kind of stared at her for a bit. They shrugged it off and kept on playing. Raven, however, didn't forget about it.
"Hey, I have a great idea!" exclaimed Beast Boy, "I challenge you, Cyborg, to a waffle eating contest! Starfire and Aria will be the judges!"
"You're on!" The contest began. Raven slipped off and went to find Robin. He was in his room. She knocked on his door.
"Hey Raven. What's up?" Raven entered his room.
"What was the deal between you and Aria during the card game? I could sense something between you two. Pain. What's going on?"
"I don't know," Robin said as he looked at the ground, "I asked her about her friends back home. She grew really intense and her eyes started to water up. I told her that she could tell me. She said she didn't want to talk about it and she walked off. I think something happened to her in her life. She's really shut off from people. She only lets them get so close before pushing them away. Don't you sense it?"
"I feel it too. She masks her feelings well. She can't do that. It only leads to trouble. All emotion needs to escape somehow. She can't keep it bottled up like that. What can we do?"
"Just be her friend. Show her you care and maybe the barrier will come down." Raven nodded and walked out. She went back to the kitchen for the food-eating contest. Robin followed. As they walked into the kitchen, they both got a face-full of food. The food-eating contest had turned into a full-blown food fight. Robin and Raven joined in on the assault. BB, armed with a bottle of syrup, flew out form behind the counter. He was pounded in mid-air by waffle, butter and leftovers. Starfire ran around pegging people with Tamaranian berries. Cyborg had loaded his canon with ketchup. Aria was throwing pizza slices as if they were Frisbees. One landed right in Robin's mouth. All the Titans were laughing and covered in food when the TV came on. The Titans froze and stared at the screen. On the screen was a dark, malevolent looking man. His face was hidden by a mask. Half of it was black, the other orange. It was Slade. The Titans froze, shocked at the image of the man on the screen. They had only seen him once since his apparent death.
"Well, well, well. Guess you are just a bunch of kids after all," jeered a cold voice.
"What do you want?" glared Robin. Robin face was narrowed with rage.
"I heard you had a friend in the tower helping you out. Heard she was giving you hints about your enemies." Slade sneered at Aria. Aria didn't flinch. She knew what Slade was like. He was dark and showed no mercy. He hated the Titans, some of the only people to ever show compassion to Aria in her whole life. Aria knew she had to be strong about this.
"Keep her out of this!" bellowed Robin, "She never did anything to you! It's us you want! Remember!"
"Silly boy, you best keep a close eye on her. You wouldn't want her to get hurt would you? Mwahaha!" laughed Slade, wickedly. The TV shut off and Slade was gone.