Disclaimer: Ain't mine. Now look what you made me do. I had to use crappy grammar! Now get OFF my CASE!
Rory: Short chapter. I'm sorry. But it IS an epilogue…
"Uh, Darkfire?"
The boy looked up from his meditation. Robin was standing in his doorway, looking awkward. He nodded, indicating for him to enter.
"I – have something – to tell you." Robin was mumbling, making his feeble words hard to understand.
Ryand'r was not impressed. "Yes?"
He was quiet. Finally, Darkfire glared at him hard enough, and he began to speak. "I'm sorry for how I've been treating you," he muttered. "And for accusing you of betraying us to Slade."
Robin leaned against the wall. "It's hard, you know," he said abruptly. "Being the leader of the Teen Titans. I know I've almost cracked before. I'm pretty sure I cracked this time, too. My opinions get me into trouble, and others are endangered, too. Maybe I'm not as good a leader as they all think I am." Behind the mask, his eyes were downcast, staring glumly at the ground. "I just hope you can forgive me. And accept this."
"What?" Darkfire couldn't believe his eyes. The other teen was holding out a small, round device. It was yellow, with a black and white design etched into its surface.
Robin was offering to make him a Titan.
He sat staring at it, completely still. "You wish for me to become – a Titan?" Darkfire said softly. "Me?"
He nodded in reply. "Yeah," he said. "You deserve it. If it weren't for you, Starfire would still be Slade's apprentice. We never would have found Andy, and the Titans probably would have been dissolved."
It was hard to imagine the Titans being dissolved.
Darkfire gulped. "I – I accept," he said, taking the communicator. Then he hesitated. "Saff is getting one as well, correct?"
"Yeah, of course," Robin said. "We'll work with her to help her improve her powers. You and Star can teach her how to use her Tameranian blood to the fullest, and about her culture. I'll teach her hand-to-hand, and Raven will keep up with her spiritual training." The teen stood, away from the wall, and held out his hand. "Welcome to the Teen Titans."
Proudly, Darkfire shook his hand. He even managed to keep from crushing it.
"There's still one thing I don't understand, though," Robin said, right before he left the room. "I was convinced you were a spy because you had to 'do' something that first day we met you, and you wouldn't bring the Luand'r to the Tower. What did you do with it?"
He sighed in relief. "Is that all?" he asked. "I placed the Luand'r in a cave near the shore of Jump City. The place had many minerals that would help to heal the ship's hull."
Robin frowned. "'Heal'? Metal doesn't heal. It isn't alive."
"Tameranian metal is."
Quietly, Darkfire appeared outside his sister's room. She had been right; he owed her an explanation for his binding.
He sighed, then knocked on the door.
A pair of green eyes peered out of Starfire's room. Ryand'r could remember when his eyes looked just like that. "Brother!" she said happily, opening the door wide. "Come in!" He followed her into the painfully…pink…room. "What do you need?"
"I wanted to talk to you." He took a deep breath. "You – you should know about who I am bound to."
She hesitated, then nodded. "I did not wish to press you when I found that it was not Slade."
"But you should know." Darkfire gazed evenly at her. "It is not the girl I wish to marry. It is – Korian."
Starfire stared at him blankly.
"I am sorry. I will unbind myself as soon as I can, but I promised her mother." He swallowed. "Our – aunt – Keliand'r was afraid to allow Korian to go on such a dangerous mission so far from her home, and the only way I could convince her to allow Korian to come with me was to bind myself to her."
"I see." Starfire relaxed. "You understand my worry, brother."
He nodded. "Being bound to someone besides a spouse is like – "
"Like being a homosexual," she supplied helpfully.
"Um, yes, that," he said, reddening. "But Saffire can look out for herself. So there is no need for me to bind my blood to hers."
There was a knock at the door, and Beast Boy stuck his head in. "Dude," he said. "Robin wants to see everyone in the main room."
Claw stuck his head in above his cousin's. "Yeah. Terra and Sierra are back. They know where Slade really is."
Terra paced in front of the entire team, blue eyes gleaming with vengeance. Her sister tapped her foot against the floor, fidgeting in her seat.
"Finally!" she exploded as Starfire dragged her brother into the room. "We've been waiting, like, forever!"
Sierra shook her head. "Tara, you really do need to stop that ungainly talk. 'Like.' It's most unbecoming of you. And there is much more important news to tell."
She nodded. "All right. Everyone here?"
"Yes!" yelled Robin.
A crease wrinkled Terra's forehead. "You sure?"
He sighed. "Fine. How about this. If you aren't here, raise your hand."
Most of the group raised their hands.
"There you go." Robin settled back into his chair.
Terra rolled her eyes, and Sierra took over. "Using the Justice League's systems, and under the guidance of Superman himself – "
"You'd think we weren't trustworthy," Terra commented.
" – We were able to find the location of Slade's latest hideout," Sierra finished. "We have located his DNA signature and have found exactly where he is. Cyborg?"
He tapped on the computer, pulling up scan after scan. "This really is an ingenious system," he said. "Scanners across the US. It's impossible to hide from it."
After a few moments, a map of the country appeared on the screen. "This is the United States," Sierra said, indicating the land mass.
"Yeah, we know," Raven said. "What's so special about it?"
"We are here." She pointed to southern California, a few miles south of where San Franciso used to be. "We traced the ion beams from the android that Slade used to here." Using a stick, she indicated a spot all the way across the nation, in Florida.
The Titans sat in a stunned silence. Slade had wreaked havoc in Jump City from Florida?
"He's operating from Orlando?" Bumble Bee finally said weakly.
Sierra shook her head.
"Oh. Miami, then." Robin looked relieved.
But Terra shook her head.
Claw was turning a bit red. "Dammit, where is he, then?"
The girls looked at each other, then at the other Titans. "Jupiter," they said in unison.
Note chibi sweat.
"You're telling us that Slade is living on a giant gaseous planet?" Raven asked in exasperation. "No way. Not even those huge things off Tameran could live there without getting squashed by the intense gravity."
"Not the planet," Sierra said.
Terra shook her head. "Jupiter, Florida. He's hiding in a small town across the country. And Sierra and I are going to be the ones to kill him. For good."
Rory: I'm hearing some kwehness in the audience. Yes, Jupiter Florida. It does exist, as a matter of fact. But yeah.
And so ends Thicker Than Water. Kinda crappy ending, I know. I'm sorry. But I'm done! HA: does insane dance :
There's another in-betweener, The Lake Huron Monster, that's going up today as well. It just adds an important bit to the storyline. Pretty short. Then comes the major sequal, Greener on the Other Side. As this story focuses mainly on Starfire, the sequal focuses mostly on Beast Boy and some general crap in his life. Robin is portrayed a lot differently than in Thicker Than Water, as well. So go check it out!
Oh, yeah, reviews would be nice. Heh.