Summary: Space Cargo Guarding was getting old for Robin. He loved space, but surely there were better things to look forward to than getting to the other side of the stargate. Man-oh-man, was he right...
Standard disclaimers apply.
THE MIGHTY TITAN
Chapter Nine: Dark Moon
It was difficult, Robin realized, to remain indifferent to the kind of attention Starfire gave him. While she spoke and flirted as openly and cheerfully as she always did to everyone within speaking distance, Robin noticed—and to his chagrin, appreciated—the special treatment she gave him. At first it was just the brief caresses she made when she seamlessly turned away from him to speak to someone else, as if to say, "Just a moment. I will get back to you." And then, when she spoke to him, she leaned a little closer; spoke in softer tones. Then finally, flashing him a smile that he knew was for him alone, she would punctuate it with refilling his glass of wine along with hers. A wordless and, dare he say, elegant way of saying, "See? I am with you." It was embarrassing to admit, but he was not only pleased by the subtle inflections, but he was mesmerized as well.
In spite of having made out with her in a relatively public place, he wasn't the type who made a conscious effort to mark what others might call his "territory". In the past, he just hadn't cared enough. Presently, it was just a hard habit to break.
But did it mean he cared now? Maybe a little. Making out with her must have counted for something. In a more private setting, it might have gone further than that. But then again, he didn't know how he'd handle it if they ended up sleeping together. He already knew he didn't want Starfire to be one of those girls sneaking out of his room while he pretended to be asleep. He didn't know exactly what he wanted from her, but he definitely did not want her as a one-nighter.
As he furtively let his glance linger on her profile, he absently made a grab for his wineglass and caught Cyborg raising a suspicious eyebrow.
Robin ignored him. If the half-robot saw something apart from two old friends eating together at the dinner table, he could care less. Besides, there were worse things than being caught getting it on with the passengers.
The Crème Brulêe was served for dessert with some other basic dessert ingredients placed in groups at the center of the table.
Robin looked at it and arched an eyebrow. He remembered Alfred telling him that Crème Brulêe was for the discerning pallet. His pallet was used to delivered pizza, Chinese take-out and Pop Man's fried chicken with coleslaw on the side. He passed on the custard, as others did, and chose to partake of the sweetened fruits that were made available.
Starfire accepted her custard and flashed him a smile, reaching for the cup of heavy cream and a sprig of mint. "Here. Give me a moment and you might like it this way."
He looked at her questioningly. "What?"
She didn't reply. Instead, she placed a dollop of cream on top of the Crème Brulêe. She topped the cream off with two perfectly placed mint leaves and reached for the strawberries, gently holding one by its stalk. She dipped the strawberry in the melted chocolate, coating half of the fruit, and daintily shook off the excess syrup, repeating the process with two more. With practiced ease, she placed the strawberries to one side of custard's serving plate, just outside the custard cup. Then she took some raspberry syrup by its serving ladle and poured thin streams of it around the strawberries with artful precision.
Satisfied with her work, she passed the newly decorated dessert to him.
He stared at it. He realized that she had been improvising desserts all day. He had thought it seductive during lunch and snack time, but now he saw that she had more than a knack to it.
"You've done this before," he said, amazed.
She smiled, shrugging. "I told you. I was not always a slave."
"A masseuse, a dessert chef… " thief, hustler… "What else?"
She giggled. "Anything you want?"
She had posed it as a question. Perhaps it toned down the suggestion that went with it, but suggestive it was. If she didn't stop doing that, there was no telling what he would do to her later.
He silently cursed her allure and his weakness.
After gaining a new appreciation for Crème Brulêe while he tried not to think of strawberries, whipped-cream and Starfire all at once, he saw Azar rise from her seat, Brina following close behind her. All the other acolytes seemed to think this meant they could retire as well, because several got up from their seats, excusing themselves and telling them, one way or another, how much they enjoyed that evening.
Raven finally spoke to him from across the table.
"Robin, it's time to meet with Azar. Are you ready?"
Robin didn't know he had to be. He didn't know they were going to meet Azar, either, but he nodded nonetheless. He grabbed his satchel, wondering if he should drop it off at his room before he went to the meeting. He decided he was not too keen about making Azar wait. She had that kind of presence.
They all got up, heading out the doors.
"Starfire," said Raven. "Walk with me. I have a few matters to discuss with you on the way."
Starfire looked mildly surprised, but she fell into step with Raven anyway, taking the lead as they walked the still-bustling hallways.
The women's tones were hushed, so they were impossible to overhear.
Robin let them be, falling farther back to give them the privacy Raven wanted.
Cyborg strolled on beside him, glancing nonchalantly at anything that could be considered remotely interesting. "How did your day go, champ?"
Robin wasn't quite fooled by the casual tone. He wasn't ashamed about what happened between him and Starfire, just that he didn't see how it was any of Cyborg's business. The worse thing about it was, Cyborg had a tendency to make mention of it to Bruce. The last thing he wanted was for Bruce to have an opinion about it.
"It went fine," was his only reply.
"Raven said she saw you and Starfire having loads of fun."
For a second, Robin felt a twinge of mild embarrassment at the thought that Raven had seen the way he and Starfire had carried on, but then he realized something about the sullen witch and he scoffed softly at Cyborg's bluff. "Raven said shit. She isn't the type to gossip. I, at least, could tell that much about her, you fishing son-of-bitch."
Cyborg chuckled. "Alright, stupid bluff. So, did you and Starfire have fun today?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but yeah, it was peachy." He had used the ditzy term on purpose to convey how nosy he thought Cyborg was being.
"Ah, yes. This isn't a bad place to catch up on old times with your childhood sweetheart."
"I guess not."
"Oh, ho! What's this? No denial! I was counting on that, too."
"Get a life, Cy."
"Did you at least get to second base?"
Robin felt irritation well up in him. "What? What the fuck kind of a question is that?" Where was second base, again?
Cyborg laughed, doubling over at the look on his face.
Robin's frown deepened. Why did he get himself into these things? "Look, don't talk about Starfire that way. Like I said, it's nothing like that. It's not about that, with her."
Cyborg raised his hands up in surrender, snickering but seeming apologetic. "Fine, fine. Sorry. Just that I couldn't help but notice some stuff during dinner and I was curious. I didn't want to come off as a gossip, so I opted to come off as a guy."
Robin shot him a disapproving glance as they walked, though he couldn't help but wonder about Cyborg's statement. "You noticed… stuff?" Had he been noticeable? Well, that was a tad mortifying.
"Not me, per se. Raven said something about the sexual tension making her want to puke. You know how she could pick up that sort of thing with her mind."
"Great."
"So Starfire's staying with us on the ship?"
Robin scowled. What the hell did Cyborg know about that? He hadn't brought any of that up except with Starfire! "Dude… are you spying on me? Bruce put you up to this, didn't he?"
Cyborg rolled his eyes. "Fuckin' A, man, don't be getting your drawers in a twist. I was just asking. You like her. I could see that you think she's special, so naturally, I'm asking if she'll stick around because she did say she was leaving if this stint with Raven doesn't work out. You did ask her to stay, didn't you? I sure as hell know she's got nowhere else to go."
Robin felt his face warming, ashamed of himself for jumping to conclusions. "Yeah, I asked her to stay."
"And?"
"She doesn't know if she wants to."
"Was that before or after you got to second base?"
"Fuck you, Cy."
Cyborg chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously, what'll you do if she leaves?"
"I hadn't thought that far."
"Dude, she must have messed with you. You ain't thinkin' like yourself."
Robin sighed, ruffling his hair in frustration. "No, I ain't." He would have liked to tell Cyborg that "often, a moment is all we have" but he was sure he wouldn't be as convincing about it as Starfire was.
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Azar's chamber was set at the far end of the temple, up a spiral of gray coral stairs. Whether she lived in a tower was unlikely, though the way up was dark and narrow. Cyborg could barely fit his broad shoulders through the passageway, let alone side by side with anyone.
Starfire and Raven walked together, a strange silence having befallen them. Robin tried to see Starfire's face at each turn of the stairs and noted that she did not seem displeased or angry. Pensive, maybe, especially when she steered her gaze back to Raven on occasion.
Before they reached the top of the stairs, Raven finally looked back at her.
"Starfire, is there something on my face?"
"No," she replied, cheeks reddening. "I… I have always felt I knew you from somewhere, Raven."
"That's a lame pick-up line if I ever heard one."
Starfire looked even more embarrassed. "That is not what I meant."
"I know that's not what you meant, you ditz. I'm just—well—teasing, I suppose."
Robin arched an eyebrow. Raven, teasing? Well, this was a strange place indeed.
"I am not a ditz," Starfire muttered.
"I guess not. So, you think you know me, do you, Starfire?"
At first, Starfire made no reply, sulking, but after a moment, she sighed. "It was just a feeling before, but now you seem… "
"Stranger?"
"No. The exact opposite: More familiar."
After a moment's thought, Raven shrugged. "Makes absolute sense. We just talked about your sister."
"But that only makes you know me more. You have said nothing about yourself."
"Like you said; it's like you already know me, anyway."
"But—"
"Quiet. We've reached Azar's chamber. You too, Robin."
Robin watched Raven's face suspiciously. There was always something about the woman that whispered, "I've got a secret," but right now, looking at her, it was almost as if "secret" was more "conspiracy".
They came upon double doors, each side carved with two rimmed circles containing different symbols.
The circle on the right contained a square with more symbols etched in grid-like lines and columns. Above and beneath the square were more symbols; one at the top and one at the bottom. Carved along the rim were unfamiliar characters, spread around on three even arcs.
The second circle, the one on the left, did not have anything written on its rims, though the symbols carved within the circle seemed no less intricate. Set at the top was a horseshoe-like shape, open end up. Right beneath it was an x-mark with its left and bottom angles containing their own horseshoes, only horseshoes were open end in. Closing the angles, they looked like flower petals. The angle set on the right had something of a half-horseshoe, keeping the angle open. Underneath the strange x-mark were two more symbols. One was a craft-like shape, like a paper airplane with its nose angled to the right. The second was a symbol mirroring that on the right circle.
"Do you know what these symbols are?" Raven asked. She looked between Starfire and Robin.
Robin frowned. "How the hell am I supposed to know, Raven?"
"Haven't caught up on your reading, have you?"
Robin darted a look at her. "What—"
"This one is a sigil," said Starfire, pointing to the left circle. She caught Robin and Cyborg's appalled stares and hastened to explain. "A symbol that incorporates a form of magical energy."
Raven seemed pleased. "Very good. And this circle right here? Do you recognize it?"
She nodded and began to rattle off names as she pointed to symbols within the circle. "Mars, Adonai, Barzabel, Graphiel…"
"You remember them?" asked Raven
There was a hint of what Robin could only describe as anticipation in Raven's voice. It was strange, coming from her who didn't seem to get affected by anything.
Starfire blinked in surprise, frowning. "I read a lot. I read about these and I remembered them from somewhere."
The anticipation waned from Raven's eyes, as if disappointed. "That's what I meant."
Starfire turned away, stepping back, away from Raven and beside Robin.
Raven's facial expression returned to its bland, impassive state. Whatever she thought about Starfire's wordless dismissal would never be revealed. "This is a talisman for protection. Appropriate for doors, yes? It calls upon the elements for power. Azar comes from a long line of herb harnessers. Also known as Earth Witches."
"And what kind of witch are you?" asked Robin, unable to resist.
"Why, I'm more of an Earth Witch, Robin. What else kind of witch would I be?"
He arched an eyebrow. "Ley comes to mind."
"I only use that when I'm angry, and I hardly ever am."
Cyborg sighed. "What in God's name are ya'll talking about?"
Robin cast a sardonic smile. "Witchcraft."
"My momma said that's the devil's work," Cyborg muttered.
Raven's only reaction was a noncommittal tilt of her head. "And you should always listen to your momma." She raised her palm where the double doors met and gave it a barely discernable push. There was a thud and the doors lazily swung open.
Robin could only stare at what was inside. The chamber was huge, like a church, with a high ceiling, wide spaces and columns all around to make an inner and outer ring. Beyond the columns were stained-glass windows, the bits of colored glass arranged to form different symbols on each window frame. Candles burned all over to light the room. They were set on intricate porcelain candleholders. Not a single drop of wax littered the floor, though the smell of burning wax was present. It was not an overpowering smell, scented as it was by something else.
At the center of the room was a marble basin, or maybe it was a table. Until Robin could touch its shiny black surface, he might never be sure. The entire floor was crowded with symbols. Whether they were placed there randomly or with purpose, there was no way of telling.
"Myrrh," said Cyborg in a low voice.
"What?" Robin whispered back.
"That smell; it's myrrh. I smell it every Christmas, when momma and I go to church. The priest burns some during High mass."
"You go to church?"
"I am a practicing Catholic, you know."
"You are? But you hardly ever show guilt!"
"We aren't just about guilt, fool. Besides, what do I have to be guilty about?"
As they approached the center of the room, Robin looked up. There was a round skylight. The night was spangled with stars, forming a faint round outline, like something should have been there. He stopped to stare at it, wondering about it.
"Dark moon," said an echoing woman's voice from the shadows. It was casually put; the way teacher would answer a student's questions. Footsteps followed it; several of them. "Also known as the Crone," she continued. "It is perfect for this night's meeting."
It was Azar, her smile warm and welcoming. Behind her strode Terra and Beast Boy.
Robin blinked. He remembered Raven saying that the meeting included "everyone else." He should have expected Terra and Beast Boy, but then he thought Beast Boy was in recovery.
The two smiled at him. They looked at ease being in the strange and vast room.
"I had them brought over," said Azar as if by way of explanation. "I figured Malaika would be well enough, at least to attend this gathering."
Malaika
"That would be Beast Boy," said Raven.
Robin was beginning to get pissed. Was everyone reading his mind or did he just look as confused as he felt?
Azar smiled. "You are confused."
That seemed to have answered his question.
"You all are. Please, sit." She stepped up to the table—as Robin discovered, touching the hard, ink-like surface—and ran a finger on the rim. Paper-thin discs, rounded and black, rose out of the floor like reverse drops of dark water, making a soft sucking sound as they separated themselves from where they came, levitating. They appeared around the table on even points, one for each attendant of the meeting, or "gathering", as Azar termed it.
Hesitantly, Robin sat and the seat held him as firmly as if it had solid legs. He wondered if, in a fit of anger, Azar could make him crash to the ground on his butt. He decided he wasn't going to anger this woman.
Everyone took their seats and he found that there was a vacancy beside him. Maybe the table was set for eight.
"Ah," said Azar, staring at each face. "Of course you are missing one, as Raven informed me."
Robin exchanged questioning looks with Beast Boy, who merely shrugged.
"I like a nicely arranged table," she continued. She ran her finger on the rim again. The extra seat dropped back into the floor with a swish, disappearing.
Robin gaped, barely noticing that their seats were adjusting to spread around the circular table evenly. There were sounds of surprise from everyone, but no one really fell over. The transition was very gentle.
"There now. Isn't that better?"
Robin tried his best to reconfigure the question burning in his mind so that it wouldn't sound rude and too impatient. "Ma'am?"
"Yes, Rhisiart?"
Robin lost his place with the name that wasn't his. He gave up.
Azar smiled faintly. "You do not like that name? Too bad. It has such a bold meaning. It means 'brave power'."
Robin reddened. No one said anything. Everyone was listening.
It occurred to Robin that Azar looked every bit as human as he did, only there was a strange sleekness to her features, like she was from a human race he didn't recognize.
"Tell me, Rhisiart. Do you believe in reincarnation?"
"No," was his immediate reply, regardless of the name she used to call him. "I'm of the scientific persuasion."
"As well you should be. Alchemy was one of your favorite pursuits after all."
Robin frowned. "With all due respect, ma'am, I don't believe in any of that sh—stuff. I stick to what I can see and feel and smell; logic and experimentation. Theory and proof. I don't believe that lead could be turned into gold and I don't believe souls are recycled."
"Funny that a non-believer like you should believe we have souls at all."
Robin bristled. Well, sure, he believed in souls, but he doubted whether he believed in it the same way she did. "I'm sure our views of it differ in the extreme."
"Try me. Tell me what you believe of the soul."
Disliking the attention, he resisted.
Azar leaned over the table. "Surely, you do not believe it like a Catholic would." She gestured to Cyborg who flinched in surprise. "Or like a Wiccan would." This time, she gestured to Raven. "Or maybe you would believe it like a hacker would." She looked at Terra, who smiled back.
Put on the spot, he tried to explain. "The laws of science dictate that everything works around logic, pattern and algorithms. Because there's gravity, an apple could fall from a tree. When you pick up a particular virus, you get a cold. When it rains on your wedding day, it proves, yet again, that Murphy's right: What could happen will happen."
Azar chuckled.
He continued. "It's the same for a person; the way his body works; the way his mind thinks. He acts on logic or reason according to the functions of his brain and body. If there's something wrong with the hardware, he becomes unpredictable to those around him, but it still stays within the realm of what his brain is wired to do. Busted brain, different logic, different patterns, but his broken brain follows an algorithm nonetheless. You see it all the time when serial killers are profiled by the peacekeepers. Serial killers think differently, yet the keepers manage, one way or another, to predict the serial killer's next move so that the keepers could prevent another murder. That example aside, I do believe that a perfectly functioning brain with its usual logic, patterns and algorithms could generate groups of thought and reasoning wholly unexpected from the norm. These groups form free radicals, or unanticipated protocol. They don't conform to any known algorithm, yet they exist. I believe this is why people are capable of creating art, singing songs, writing poetry and dreaming. This is the manifestation of the soul I believe in; something that makes a man different from a machine."
He glanced briefly at Cyborg who smiled, nodding thoughtfully in agreement.
Azar rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "But that's like saying people are born without a soul. That a person creates his own soul as he gains cognition."
"Then I guess that's what I believe."
"Interesting. And these manifestations of creativity, the dreams… when the person dies, what becomes of the soul then? By your reasoning, the soul dies with the body."
"The body dies, but people are a form of energy, and energy never disappears, it just changes form. His energy differs from that of the energy of mechanical things because of how it shaped itself as an individual when it was corporeal."
"And so your free radicals find their true, uninhibited form: a true soul. I agree with you, Rhisiart."
Robin stopped short at that. It was hard to believe that their "isms" intersected. In this odd, unearthly room in the middle of God-knew-where, she seemed to be beyond everything in Robin's realm of logic. She was probably just saying that; that his beliefs of the soul eventually boiled down to her beliefs of the soul.
"We shape our souls until it could be freed from our corporeal selves," she said. "Therefore, whatever it becomes next couldn't be exactly the same as what it formerly was. But just because our freed souls have become a different form of energy, it doesn't mean it couldn't go back to some form of what it once was. After all, clouds turn into rain into vapor into clouds into rain… though never ever the same cloud, rain or vapor."
Robin stared at her. He felt a need to argue some more, but he stopped himself. He settled instead for, "That's debatable."
She smiled, nodding. "Indeed it is, but not tonight. Some other time, Rhisiart. I do so like arguing with wizards best. Your perceptions always manage to bend common belief."
"I'm not a wizard, and my name is Robin."
Azar did not seem affected. "Well, of course you're not a wizard anymore. That is what you were in your original life. And I do so apologize if I use your former names. You could say I am more acquainted with your past names than I am with the names you have now."
Everyone fidgeted uneasily. Robin refused to be done in. Having spoken so freely with Azar in the last few minutes, he felt emboldened to be a bit sarcastic. "And I suppose you're going to tell us that we were once a group of wizards and sorcerers who knew each other before, and that we're here to reunite and fulfill a destiny so we could prevent the destruction of the universe." He grimaced. "This is so cheesy. A B-Movie fantasy epic…"
Starfire widened her eyes at him, scolding him silently for his insolence. Terra, Beast Boy and Cyborg merely sighed. They were used to him being like that. Raven, however, seemed unaffected.
Azar, much to Robin's ire, laughed. "Cheesy! Indeed, it is! Let me put your fears to rest then, Rhisiart. No, you are not a group of 'wizards and sorcerers' who once knew each other. In fact, you never knew each other existed until you all met in this life. As far as destinies go, I am not a fan of it myself, considering it is alterable at the slightest turn. But ah… you did manage to get one thing right: The universe is in danger, though I think the word 'universe' slightly melodramatic in this case, metaphorical at best."
Robin rubbed his temple with his fingers.
"You will discover, Rhisiart, that Azarath bridges the gap between your reality and mine; between mysticism and practical science. I will make a believer of you yet."
He shrugged. "Give it your best shot."
She smiled, serene in her acceptance of his resistance. She looked up at the skylight. "The Goddess has a sense of humor, indeed, to have us meet under this lunar phase. The Dark Moon bodes best for regeneration and regrouping. You came to Azarath disjointed and damaged, did you not? Especially you, my young Malaika. You were lost in the depths of your consciousness."
Beast Boy nodded, as if he believed in everything Azar said.
"But now you are on your way to recovery. And so while this moon waits above us, its energies are fit for divination and delving into past lives. We should use that energy, don't you agree?"
Robin was about to scoff, but he felt someone pinch his thigh. He stifled a yelp and saw that Starfire had darted a warning look at him. He kept still, resolving to say nothing.
Azar looked at Raven, extending an arm to touch Raven's chin. Raven remained impassive, though she seemed used to the gesture. "My girl, Raven. Arella bore her, but I mothered Raven with her."
Robin wondered what sort of person had two mothers and still managed to be bereft of emotion. But he said nothing, opting to listen.
"Raven… her bloodline is special in that it carries a kind of 'disease', if you will."
"I could've told you that myself," Terra muttered.
Beast Boy and Cyborg shot her a disapproving frown.
Robin chuckled. Ata girl.
He supposed the boys would always be a bit partial to any girl with curves like Raven, more so now that Raven actually healed Beast Boy, but one had to credit Terra for her consistency.
Perhaps everyone else felt the same way because no one else chastised her for it.
Azar continued to explain. "A very long time ago, at the dawn of Egyptian civilization, a pharaoh's concubine by the name of Amon Nepthys fell in love with the priestess Bastet."
Robin's eye arched at this. Raven had called Starfire Bastet when they first arrived on Azarath. He wondered if the reference was the same.
"Theirs was a love forbidden by the scripture of their gods, for not only were they both women, but Amon Nepthys was beholden to her pharaoh. To force the blessings of Ra to rain on them, Bastet sought a force that would ensure their place in the afterlife. One night, as her beloved slept in her arms, she saw a heavenly fire descend the earth. Sure that it was a sign from the gods, Bastet went to investigate and found a rock the size of a human head. It was broken apart, but inside it was the gem we now call the Jewel of Charta."
Starfire flinched at the mention of the gem, but she stayed silent, listening to the rest of the story.
"Bastet took it as message from the gods, but she was yet to understand whether the message was favorable to them or not. She anointed the gem and called it the Eye of Ra. She worshiped it; gave it food, gold and the blood of her people, hoping that one day, she would be enlightened, and then enlightenment came. When finally, in high mass, the priestess offered her own blood to the stone, the stone gave an answer. It engulfed her in flames, but she did not burn. Imagine, to be bathed in fire and not be consumed by it! Bastet finally began to see it as a blessing, but she still wanted an audience with her gods. Confident that she would not be shunned, she called on the gods to bless her union with Amon Nepthys.
"She was visited, but this deity was not one of her own. The poor priestess had failed to summon her gods simply because they did not exist. What did exist was the demon who called himself Trigon. Powerful and malicious, but young, with much to prove. Bastet was displeased and promptly tried to send it back to the dimension from whence it came. It would not leave, and to spite Bastet, Trigon sought Amon Nepthys to drag her back to the netherverse with him. Bastet battled with the demon with righteous rage, using the jewel to enhance what powers she had. Trigon was powerful in his own right, and he was malicious. He possessed Amon Nepthys and used Bastet's love to his advantage. Trigon triumphed over the priestess, but before her death, Bastet had just enough left to use the jewel's power to drive Trigon out of Amon Nepthys body and bind him back into the netherverse. Bastet died in Amon Nepthys arms. Amon Nepthys lived on, but not unscathed. She bore a demon mark.
"The demon, Trigon, could not call Amon Nepthys' soul to the netherverse unwillingly because the mark had been forced upon her, but she was marked nonetheless, and so were her children, and her children's children. And so it would be until the time came when Trigon could break through the bindings Bastet placed upon him and he could claim the youngest of Amon Nepthys' bloodline by fetching her himself.
"Amon Nepthys knew this to be hers and her descendants' fate, and possessing her own strength of will, she made sure that her descendants would be prepared for that inevitability. Her children's children became practitioners of the mystic crafts and the craft became a tradition passed on from generation to generation as long as the demon mark remained.
"The bindings of Trigon broke when Arella, Raven's mother and descendant of Amon Nepthys, turned eighteen. More than five thousand years trapped in his dimension, Trigon had gained even more power and ambition. He was eager to conquer new ground. Hungry for power but driven by revenge, he took Arella to his plane to make her his bride. But like a true descendant of Amon Nepthys, she had learned her spells and incantations. She bound Trigon to his dimension a second time. Trigon was trapped in his domain once more, but he was wise, this demon. Before she could escape his domain, Trigon raped Arella, impregnating her then he let her return to her realm. There, Arella realized that through the child, Trigon would be able to set himself free and become more powerful than ever. Arella would have the child, for terminating it had worse risks attached to it; but measures would have to be taken to ensure that when Trigon was set free, he could be destroyed.
"Arella came here, in my grandmother's time, to Azarath, to give birth to Raven, ensuring at least that while Grandmother Azar was there to take care of Raven, the key within Raven could not be used to unleash Trigon. From there, Arella began her search for salvation. The search spanned more than fifty years, and while Arella's gifts made her age a little slower than most humans… well, she was still quite old by the time she passed the task on to her daughter."
There was a significant pause in Azar's story and Robin turned his gaze on Raven, as did everyone else. If they heard Azar correctly, Raven was more than fifty years old, but then of course, she might have been part something else which was why she looked really good for being half a century old.
To his credit, he didn't bring the subject of her age up. "Do you have a demon mark?"
Raven gave a sardonic grunt. "I don't need a demon mark. My blood is my demon mark; half of it, at least. I have birthmarks, but they're hidden, and I don't think just anyone could see them."
"This demon—"
"Humans call them demons," said Azar. "But essentially, they are extra-dimensional beings; aliens in their own right. Bastet was most unfortunate that the power of the jewel called the attention of the most ambitious of the lot. It was but natural, I suppose, that power called to power. If Bastet hadn't done it, someone else would have, but then again, perhaps fate had a hand in it: Bastet had the means and knowledge to fight with Trigon well enough to imprison him in his dimension for the better part of five thousand years, enough time for the jewel to find its way to its other masters. Power does indeed call to power. The Eye of Ra next fell in the possession of Malaika. She was a young mother who traveled with her tribe along the shores of the Nile so that its river water could nourish them. She used the power of the stone on a less conscious level, believing it made her fertile and strong because she survived twelve births throughout her long life."
"Hold up," Cyborg said. "Malaika… is a girl?"
"Yes."
Giggles rippled through the table and Beast Boy pouted. "And what's wrong with that?"
Azar chuckled. "Nothing, child. Birth and water signify life and change. Malaika, dear as she was, found that she could use the stone to manipulate water. It was not known how, but she did. Likely, it also involved the contact of her blood with the stone. When she passed on, the stone sought a new master. Eventually, it did find him. When the Crusades came to claim the holy land, the stone found Gwythr, Knight of the Realm. He did not possess any apparent special powers, but he protected the stone, and the stone protected him for many, many years. Eventually, Gwythr, entirely unaware of the stone's power brought it to the one who would next be able to use it. Shortly after, perhaps a century, it was found hidden amongst the treasures of the realm by a self-proclaimed Alchemist and Wizard who was drawn to the stone's strange properties. It was not a stone of the Earth's making, and surely, that was reason enough for the Alchemist to take it. Rhisiart, the Alchemist, had a special affiliation for air. He was on a constant quest to defy the ground and he roamed the land free and unfettered. Shortly after he discovered the jewel, there were sightings of him being in two places at once. He probably wasn't, but it suggested that he had managed to use the gem's powers to fly, getting from one place to another quicker than anybody could at the time. Eventually, Rhisiart the Wizard disappeared, and there were rumors of him having gone to the mystic continent of the East. Where exactly he spent his last days remained a mystery for a very long time, but the stone did turn up, and it did find its new mistress.
"A young girl sent to a nunnery in the mountains of Japan discovered that her convent was in possession of an oddly set stone. It was being protected; from whom… not even the nuns knew what to tell Chiyo-chan. But the stone did call, and before anyone knew it, Japan was being rocked by devastating earthquakes. Of course, it would seem unfair to blame Chiyo-chan, but the stone did respond to her. After Chiyo-chan, Arella did not bother to know more of the stone's history. Just that somehow, the stone left Earth; made its way across the galaxy, but the rest of it is irrelevant."
Robin remembered the names and he had to wonder what he was doing, still sitting there and listening to bullshit. "Now you're going to tell us we're reincarnations of these people."
"I am afraid not, Rhisiart," said Azar, much to his surprise and confusion. "Arella, in her quest to defeat Trigon once and for all, found a more scientific answer. The stone, she discovered, was part mystic, part scientific. It was drawn, somehow, to certain blood-types and bio-psychic energies. She thought maybe that Raven herself might be able to manipulate the stone in defeating her own father, but somehow, manipulating Raven's blood met with disastrous results. We could not be sure what happened, but it drove Arella to madness, at least temporarily. Fortunately, she recovered several months later, and when she did, she knew exactly what had to be done. She was aware that that the stone had been owned and used before; her studies had shown her that, so she set out to find the remains of Bastet, Malaika, Gwythr, Rhisiart and Chiyo-chan."
"Did she find them?" Starfire asked.
Azar nodded gravely. "Indeed, she did. She found their graves, tombs, bones and mummified remains. Bastet, her tomb stripped poor, managed to stay intact in her sarcophagus, though most of her bones had crumbled to dust. Malaika was a challenge. Until Arella could discover real remains and perform regressions on them, she couldn't even be sure Malaika existed. Malaika was a theory; a link bridging the gap between Bastet and the third owner of the stone, which was Gwythr. Arella was the one who gave this theoretical carrier a name; she called this person Malaika, a name suited to boy, or girl. Malaika took the longest to find, but after decades of searching and sifting through bones, she came upon a skull whose regression showed links to the stone."
"Umm…" Beast Boy raised his hand tentatively.
Azar turned to him with an expectant expression.
"What's a regression?"
"Regression is looking into someone or something's past through psychic energies, usually made possible by touching an object connected to someone or being in a place connected to an event. It is like camera recordings, except the images are stored in a plane usually invisible to the naked eye. As it is, regression images are almost always never whole. They come to a viewer in parts, so the viewer must have some training to make sense of them."
Beast Boy frowned, but nodded, conveying he understood.
Azar went on. "It took Arella a few more years to follow the first real lead she had, but she did find Malaika and she was glad she hadn't been wrong. She moved on to the next owner of the stone. Gwythr, as a knight of the realm, was easy enough to find. His remains were not as old as the others and his bones were almost all intact. Most surprising of all were Rhisiart and Chiyo-chan remains. Arella was afraid that being that they were probably in Japan, their bodies may have well been cremated in death. As it turned out, only Chiyo-chan was in Japan. Rhisiart's body was in China where it had gained a living Buddha's entombment. I suppose all his flying around had gained him much respect with the holy men, thus the manner in which he was entombed. Therefore his remains, as well, were almost all intact. It was Chiyo-chan that was a surprise. Chiyo-chan had not been given respect for her power. For having the ability to move the earth, Chiyo-chan was sealed in a cave, with a blessed boulder, no-less, and she was alive when they sealed her."
Terra made a horrified sound. Perhaps she had an affiliation for Chiyo-chan, after all.
"Of course, they separated her from the gem, but it was a most undeserved death, indeed, for I doubt she rocked Japan on purpose. When Arella found her 'resting place', the boulder hadn't been moved in the least. Not in a thousand years, and when the boulder was moved, Chiyo-chan's desiccated remains lay on the ground. There was a great deal of preservation for someone who wasn't mummified. Perhaps it had to do with fate; perhaps with the cave itself. All Arella could tell was that the poor child had several tiny cracks on her skull, probably from banging her head against the rocks to seek a quick death. She suffered greatly, I'd imagine."
Robin arched an eyebrow. "So Arella found her stone-owners. What did she do with their remains?"
Azar smiled mysteriously. "She took their remains and flew them all to Centuro Helion."
Robin's jaw dropped at the implication. "But... Centuro Helion's—"
"Yes. I know. She wanted to have them cloned."
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Robin was not going to let anyone convince him that he was, or could be a clone. "I'm not a clone," he said. He had nothing against clones, per se, but unless they got clones to act more human and less genetic spare-parts, he wasn't going to let anyone call him a clone.
It was a big argument with humanitarians, these clones. They were created in Centuro Helion primarily to supply rich people of the galaxy with the body parts and organs they might need should the ones they had fail them. Clones supposedly had no souls since from the moment they were created, they were stored in Bio-Simulator Chambers. To keep a clone healthy, its brain had to be stimulated with electric pulses equivalent to an ordinary person's daily thought processes. At the same time, the rest of his body received electrical pulses equivalent to the clone-owner's physical exertions. So of course, a football player's clone would need to have a stronger physique than a business mogul's so that in the unfortunate event that a football player needed his knee replaced, the one from his clone would be even stronger than the one he lost.
There were stories of clones waking from sleep, screaming insanely in their chambers, but none of these were ever proven to be true. However, Robin supposed that if he woke up from a deep sleep and found half his insides hanging out of him, he'd go postal himself.
Azar chuckled. "Of course you are not a clone, Rhisiart. None of you are, but she did seek the technology of Centuro Helion to revive enough of the carriers' tissues from what remains she had. From these cloned tissue samples, she was able to complete the necessary studies to genetically replicate the components that made these five extraordinary individuals so receptive to the properties of the jewel."
As Robin listened, he had a sneaking sensation that what he was going to hear next would change the way he looked at his life forever.
Taking a deep breath, Azar continued. "Arella, armed with genetic expertise, placed herself as a genetic engineer in the organization we now know as Repro-Life."
Repro-Life was a galaxy-sized corporation that provided genetically-improved children to willing parents. While the child was still, in every way, a product of the parents' combined genetics, Repro-Life could remove hereditary-defects, enhance genetic gifts and even manipulate a child's appearance to ensure their good looks.
It wasn't bad, really. Many parents did it. What Robin couldn't stomach was the idea that anyone would be engineered for something other than giving parents a healthy child they could raise and love. Engineering a child—for example—so that it would become a Tennis star seemed unfair to the child. It was like from the very beginning, the kid couldn't decide for itself.
"I wasn't made in a Petri-dish, either," said Robin. His parents would have told him, or wouldn't they have? It was common for parents to keep that particular piece of information to themselves. It was, after all, like plastic surgery. People could tell, to some extent, that someone had their nose done, but that someone didn't need to admit it.
Raven chuckled. "You weren't? Then why do you think you're such a wonder, Wonder Boy?"
Robin glared at her. "My parents—"
"Oh please… look at yourselves. All of you are child prodigies. Every single one of you more special than everyone else. You're even more special than the other Petri-dish kids, for that matter. You could thank my mother for that. Terra managed her first major hack when she was eight years old. Beast Boy was a top ranking space cadet when he was thirteen. Cyborg had the makings of an all-star football pro even before he reached highschool. And Starfire…" She laughed sardonically. "How many Tamaranians do you know could shoot starbolts from their hands and eyes?"
Robin's heart began to beat very, very fast. He looked at every single one of his crew, their eyes conveying as much disbelief as his did. And when finally, his eyes fell on Starfire, his gaze held much longer as the realization exploded like a hydrogen bomb.
"It was a set-up, wasn't it?" he whispered. "My life… our lives… the way we all met. It was all a set-up…" It pounded into his head like a taunt and he had to breathe. He needed to breathe, or he would choke on the reality.
There was a shriek and it wrenched Robin from his thoughts. Robin saw a flash of gold suddenly flying across the table in front of him and his reflexes snapped with experienced speed. He caught Terra by her waist, grunting as he dragged her off the table and away from Raven. Her struggles were driven by rage and he practically had to wrestle her to keep her still.
"Lemme go!"
She was screaming into his ear as she fought to get past him, but he was still a bit numb from the news. The others were yet too stunned to react at all, though they had stood from their seats, perhaps thinking that they had to do something, but they didn't know what.
"She put me in jail, Robin!" Terra shrieked. "She and her mother made sure I fucking got carted off to jail! My program was perfect! Untraceable! But they fucking found me, Robin! I was nine. I was fucking nine and I was in jail!"
Robin's hold on her tightened. "T-Terra! Calm down! Calm—"
"Ask her who killed your parents, Robin. Goddammit, ask her!"
Her words formed the very thoughts that had struggled to find purchase in his jumbled mind. He didn't want to believe it; he didn't even want to ask it, but there it was, and now he had to look to Raven for the answers.
"Beast Boy, hold her for me," he said, grunting against the elbows that pounded on him.
Beast Boy swallowed and just stared at him.
"BB!"
Hearing his name knocked Beast Boy back to his senses. Beast Boy took Terra, wrapping his arms around her. She struggled a bit more, tears squeezing out of her eyes. She was crying, not because she was sad, but because she was angry. Terra had a lot to be angry about. "Let me go, Beast Boy!"
Robin trained his gaze at Raven. "Did you kill them? Did you kill my parents?"
Raven's gaze was just as intense. "I'm many things, but I'm not a murderer. Neither is my mother. I didn't cause Cyborg's paralysis; I didn't cause the Citadellians to attack the Mighty Gotham and I certainly didn't get Beast Boy kicked out of the academy. These were events in your lives that could only be attributed to fate. While I believe that the stone may have been 'rounding you up', so to speak, that is a detail. That these events gave me a way to bring all of you together…" She took a deep breath. "Yes, I admit that I exploited that, but I did not cause anyone's misfortune." She hesitated. "Except for Terra… yes, I did have a hand at her capture and incarceration. She couldn't be controlled. She had to be put in a position that would force her to be among you and stay put. It wasn't like she was framed. I didn't even entrap her. She committed the crime all by herself. I merely helped the authorities catch her at it."
Terra's fight to break her constraints found new strength and Beast Boy had to transform into a grizzly bear just so she wouldn't hurt herself as she thrashed.
Robin shook his head. He didn't know what to feel about Raven. Though he felt that Terra deserved her time, he didn't know if he'd ever, ever have the heart to report a child to the authorities knowing she would be sentenced to several years in prison.
"She was nine years old, Raven," said Starfire. "She was a child. How could you do that? How could you—how could you manipulate us all like that! You could have just—just—"
Raven frowned. "Introduced you to one another? No, I couldn't have. Listen to me and listen to me good. This evil inside me is powerful. It is not something that could be fixed with overnight getting-to-know-you parties and two-bit spells. My mother needed all of you to work perfectly together; you had to do it willingly, and contrived as it all was, you had to have a bond stronger than just a bunch of guys commissioned and paid to work with each other. We weren't sure whether that bond was friendship, but it was the best 'bond' we could think of. Friendship was the best bet we had to perfecting the spell that would be used to defeat Trigon. We let that friendship form spontaneously, though perhaps some degree of genetic compatibility helped that objective along."
"Genetic compatibility?" said Cyborg. He sounded disgusted.
Raven nodded. "Of course you had to have the predisposition to like one another. Your parents were not randomly selected vessels. They had the genetic make-up that would work best with reproducing the original carriers of the stone. Because of this, we couldn't exactly get them to end up as friends and neighbors. After all, one of the pairs ruled a planet in the next quadrant. Cyborg's parents couldn't exactly invite Starfire's parents to barbeque on Sundays."
"So you got Starfire to meet me," Robin concluded weakly.
"My mother had possession of the jewel from time to time, but it wasn't hers. It belonged to the royal family of Charta. They didn't know what it could do; it was better that way, but we needed to gain possession of it without stealing it, or rather calling attention to it. That way, the powers of the jewel would remain secret. Before she died and left the completion of the task to me, she told me how a former jewel-owner could gain legal possession of it. It was to be done by marriage of the Tamaranian princess to the Chartusian prince. I… managed to betroth the elder daughter. Don't ask me how, but I managed. After that, I arranged for Starfire's family to hire your Godfather to transport them to Charta. If I had known the Citadellians would steal it and I would lose so much in the process, then I wouldn't have let the Tamaranian royal family leave their planet at all. But the Citadellians did attack, and I had no choice but to leave that part of the story to fate. As it was, I counted on the particular genetic compatibility my mother assigned to Robin and Starfire to make their bond a little stronger than the others. Starfire needed a special draw, simply because under any other circumstance, princesses were not expected to associate with commoners; especially not orphan ones."
Genetically compatible, thought Robin, his ulcer twisting so painfully that he had to lean over his seat for support. From the moment I laid eyes on Starfire, it was about genetics! He didn't know what he was supposed to feel about that. Starfire had been a childhood dream; a perfect eight year old girl who was a perfect friend to a nine year old boy. And now, in spite of their differences, he had kissed and held her; he felt so unbelievably drawn to her that… good God, it's true. It's true!
Terra demanded Beast Boy to let her go, yelling that she wasn't going to attack anybody.
Ever afraid of having her angry at him, Beast Boy released her.
"I was an orphan ever since I could remember, Raven," she said bitterly. "Did I even have parents?"
Raven frowned. "Of course you had parents. You were told about what happened to your mother, weren't you?"
"Yeah, but like I could believe that now."
Robin couldn't blame Terra's mistrust. Not that he was very upset with his parents for not having told him; but things had shifted. He could try to convince himself that it was all a lie; a fabricated lie, but there was no purpose to Raven lying. All he had to do was check the records of Repro-Life and he could confirm everything. No, Raven would not lie about this one. The fact of the matter being: she had never lied at all. Not once.
The universe, officially, wasn't what it used to be.
"What they told you about your mother was true," said Raven. "She died giving birth to you and there was no one else to take care of you. She didn't have family left, and your father… well, she took a sperm donor for that one."
Terra grunted. "I don't even have a father. It figures."
"We chose the donor, of course. There weren't any parents on the list that fit the profile of what we needed for you. Your mother didn't exactly have the attributes we needed either, but the donor we selected for her had all that was necessary and you would have been perfect if your mother hadn't died. We needed her to keep you under control, but I suppose things like that couldn't be helped. Then you went and got yourself incarcerated."
"I wouldn't have gotten incarcerated if you hadn't interfered!"
Raven frowned. "Did you even know what you did when you hacked into Planet A-15 Terra? Did you know how many people lost their jobs because of you? And the chaos you caused… it wasn't funny. Not at all."
Terra's jaw clenched. "I didn't crash any hospitals. I didn't touch their power plants and I made sure only the business sector would be out of commission! It was a holiday."
"And why did you do it?"
Terra didn't reply.
Raven scoffed. "I thought so: Because you can. Eight years old and you could do that much damage. I don't care how young you were. You had to be put away. It wasn't like Neptune treated you like a hardened criminal. You got the punishment you deserved, and now you're better for it under Robin's guidance. You're better for it because there are people who care about you. Don't give me grief for putting you in jail, kid. You needed a spanking, and for it to matter, it had to be one hell of a big paddle."
"You're a bitch, Raven. And if you think I'm going to help you with this fucking spell of yours, you could just go to hell!"
"If you don't cooperate with the spell, I don't have to go to hell, I could bring hell right on your doorstep."
"And my operations? This body I have?" asked Cyborg. He looked amazingly calm. "You and your mom had anything to do with that?"
Raven nodded. "Of course we did. We didn't have that much credits, as you may have figured out, but we have our ways, and we were willing to use it, because we couldn't have let you be a paraplegic. You, out of everyone, had to be strong for some reason; physically. That's why the stone chose Gwythr after all. Besides, I always thought the stone had an… 'other' element."
"'Other' element?"
"Yes. Robin is air, Beast Boy is water, Terra is earth and Starfire is—well—fire. You… you're the 'other'. The product of all four put together: Metal."
Cyborg sighed and shook his head. "This is fucked up, Raven. Your screwing with our lives is fucked up, but… but for giving me this—this body… I have to thank you for that." He looked like he was going to hurl, but the thanks had to be said.
It twisted Robin's insides, but he could understand where Cyborg was coming from.
"You're welcome." Raven's gaze then turned to Starfire. "And you? If you think you won't be giving me that stone—"
Starfire frowned, rising in the air. "I won't! I have had enough of you controlling our lives!"
Raven levitated to match her, aura darkening. "You will waste all those centuries of preparation; all the lives of your friends because you want to be stubborn?"
"It has to stop!" she yelled, hands and eyes glowing green.
"It's ironic how you, out of all the others, should resist. You are Bastet. You were the one who started it all. You were the one who fought Trigon so fiercely. And now you refuse to help? This is rich."
"Go ask Blackfire to do it, then."
Robin arched an eyebrow. Blackfire?
Raven chuckled. "Blackfire…"
"You created her to be like Bastet, didn't you? I know you did. She, too, could shoot bolts so there is no use denying it. And I bet she was genetically engineered to be 'compatible' with one of them." She gestured to the entire crew. Robin thought her eyes fell a heartbeat longer on Terra, but he could have been imagining things. "Why you had to create a second specimen—"
"Yes, she was supposed to be Bastet. And yes, she was… made genetically more compatible for someone else, to keep her attached, like we did for you with Robin, but something… happened. She possesses all the attributes Bastet had, but somehow, Bastet's darker side held stronger in her. She was a volatile product; knew it the moment she was born. We felt we couldn't risk using her and having her turn on us. And so mother created you when your parents sought her expertise a second time. Split Bastet, I call you, because it's like you're Bastet: Lite. I think you're way too sunshiny to be the Bastet we want, but my mother assures me you're her, nonetheless. You're a better specimen than Blackfire, if only it means you could be controlled."
Starfire bared her teeth, the glow of her eyes intensifying. "Terra is right. You are a bitch!" She lunged at Raven and the witch shot backwards to avoid her. Raven's darkness speared at Starfire and the Tamaranian shifted with unearthly speed to avoid each shot. They spiraled to the top and Starfire let loose a bolt. Raven shielded herself with her power and the missile bounced off the surface of the half bubble. It hit the ceiling sending bits and pieces of coral falling to the spectators.
"S-Starfire!" Robin had to stop them, but he felt helpless. If he wanted to get between two fighting femmes who both had awesome powers, he couldn't just swing himself up there and separate them. Either woman could pulverize him to bits!
Fortunately, both combatants stopped. They hovered above everyone, staring at one another.
"Oh good heavens, this will not do," said Azar.
Robin had absolutely forgotten she was in the room.
"The both of you please… enough of that. I would like my chamber in one piece," she said. "There is yet more to discuss, isn't there, Raven?"
Robin groaned. He didn't know if any of them could take anymore.
Raven spoke from above. "Yes. There is more. It's for Starfire, mostly. It's information Azar would have given you freely if I weren't around to put a price on it."
"Price?" asked Starfire.
"I want you to bring me to the stone."
"I won't!"
"You will, because I could show you where in the galaxy Galfore is."
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Azar decided they needed a few minutes to recompose themselves.
After Raven said what she did about Galfore, Starfire landed a right hook on the witch's jaw, sending her crashing to the floor. But then Starfire hadn't followed up, choosing instead to leave through the open skylight to work off whatever anger she had.
Raven hadn't broken her neck in the fall, which was amazing, but then again she was half-demon. Maybe that made her stronger.
Robin was willing to bet that she let Starfire get the hit in, just to appease the raging Tamaranian princess. He wondered if Starfire would return.
It was then that Azar called for the break, saying they could reconvene in a few minutes. As she turned to leave for her back chamber, she motioned for Raven to follow her. Raven did, leaving Robin and his crew alone in the great hall.
Robin sighed wearily, seating himself as he rubbed his fingers on his forehead with slow, deliberate strokes.
"If Raven comes back with us on that ship, I am not going to stick around," said Terra, her jaw set.
Beast Boy whimpered. "But Terra—"
"I mean it!"
Cyborg sat back down, gesturing to Terra placatingly. "Just—just simmer down, Terra. We need to think this through."
"I don't—"
Robin sighed. "Terra, please! Just please, alright?"
Terra's lips pursed, but she obliged them. She took her seat but turned away from them, arms crossed. Beast Boy sat beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Beast Boy sighed, leaving her alone.
"This sucks," he said. "And what spell is Raven talking about, anyway?"
Robin hardly cared about that. He wasn't going to give in to all that magic mumbo jumbo, but the genetic engineering and all the manipulating Raven and her mother did was enough to rock the very foundations of his beliefs.
He needed to ground himself, fast. "Cy, did you know you were a Petri-dish baby?"
Cyborg cocked a weary smile. "Is that so bad?"
Robin flinched. "Well, no, but… when your parents were raising you, did they give you a choice—did they—"
Cyborg chuckled. "You're asking me if they bred me to become a football star."
"Yeah…"
"They won a lottery, champ; a Repro-Life lottery that allowed anybody the chance to have a Petri-dish baby for free. Petri-dish babies don't come cheap, after all. I guess now it's safe to say that the lottery was fixed." He laughed. "Pop was thrilled that I loved football, of course, but momma always said she had hoped I would become a priest. Does it matter?"
"I guess not."
"She rounded us all up," said Beast Boy, as if just now coming to the conclusion. "That's just weird. I mean, what if you were all jerks and assholes?"
Robin grunted. "We are jerks and assholes, Bee, it's just that we're wired to be compatible, so we could stand each other."
"Makes sense… dude, so you and Starfire were just…"
Robin wasn't quite ready to hear it from anybody else right now. "I need some air. Tell Azar I'll come back. I just need to step out for a while." He got up and headed for the door.
He heard Cyborg chastising Beast Boy for being a dick.
"Yo, champ! Wait up, yo!"
Robin looked over his shoulder briefly and saw Cyborg following. He didn't stop to wait, but he wasn't going to tell Cyborg to get lost, either.
They descended the steps to the common halls, finding a balcony to get the air he needed. The balcony had a view of the city, the buildings luminescent in the darkness.
Robin leaned over the railing and dropped his head between his shoulders, taking deep breaths.
"How's the ulcer?" asked Cyborg, leaning over beside him.
"Like a bitch."
"Don't sweat it so much, champ. I think you and Starfire would've gotten along regardless of all this shit."
He sighed, lifting his gaze to the view. What was so wrong about being wired to be compatible, anyway? It wasn't as if feelings could be manipulated by DNA, right? Genetics could account for predisposition, but what came after that was all up to the person, right?
But he couldn't shake the nagging feeling off. The others were engineered to be friends with each other, but Raven said it: He and Starfire were engineered to have a special bond. Allergic as he was to sentimental hogwash, he supposed he would have appreciated something a bit more romantic than being genetically engineered to like one another.
Chemistry. He scoffed at the thought. It didn't sound as cool when you knew it to be a literal fact.
There were other things that bothered him about it, too. "Starfire has had to deal with slavery for far too many times. How different is this from being bought at Thelsor-Con?"
Cyborg shook his head, disagreeing. "Starfire wouldn't blame you for any of this, you know. It wasn't as if you were the one who manipulated her genes, and if anything, you and she are on the same boat."
"Doesn't change the fact that we—she didn't have a choice in the matter."
"Overanalyzing again. Maybe she doesn't think it's that bad. I mean, bro, it could've been worse. What if she were fugly? What if you were fugly and she was gorgeous and no amount of genetic engineering could get her to like you? That would be like fate and science making a fool of you."
Robin stared at him for a moment before he broke out in miserable chuckles. "You're a dick, Cy."
Cyborg grinned. "Come on. Aren't you glad you're genetically meant to be with someone easy on the eyes?"
"Genetically meant—" He laughed. "I swear to God, Cy, I wish I could take things as easy as you do."
"Eh, it's in the genes."
"Right. You'd think that with all this genetic manipulation, I couldn't have ulcers."
"Yeah. Hey listen, yo. Starfire is genetically like Bastet, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"So does that mean she has—like, lesbian tendencies? Man, that would be so hot."
Robin rolled his eyes. Trust Cyborg to bring that up. "I really have no clue."
"I'll be your best friend if you ask her whether she'd slept with other women."
"Dude, that's the last thing on my mind right now."
"Actually…" came a voice behind them. "Bastet's sexual preference is more to my sister's tastes."
Robin stifled a groan. How long has she been standing there?
He turned to face her.
"You sister's a lesbian?" Cyborg asked. He was practically drooling. "Does she look like you?"
Robin scowled. "What the fuck, Cy?" He didn't care if he and Starfire weren't official: No fantasizing about each other's potential girlfriends!
Cyborg reddened, realizing his own lapse in judgment. "I—er—should go."
Robin nodded. "That'd be great, yeah."
Cyborg made his way to the balcony doors. He hesitated near Starfire. "We could—umm—talk about your sister later." He left.
Starfire could only watch him go.
When he was sure Cyborg was gone, Robin spoke. "Blackfire's a lesbian?"
She nodded, cocking a smile. "All the way. She is still trying to get over the fact that I do not share her preferences."
"Is? As in present tense? I though you said you haven't seen her since she left you and Galfore to fend for yourselves?"
She seemed puzzled. "When did I say that?"
"At the library in the ship…"
She chuckled. "Oh. I did not say I have not seen her. I said she made me and Galfore promise not to try to find her. But goodness, do you think I would listen to something like that? She is my sister! Of course I would try to find her, and I did! On occasion, I would visit her, but that is very rare. I have only actually gone to her twice in the last eight years. Too risky if I went to her frequently."
Robin wondered why Starfire didn't just stay with her sister if Blackfire had a place she called her own, but he supposed Blackfire had more to do with that than anything; probably told Starfire to get lost. Anyway, there was only one place he wanted Starfire to be. "So… Raven knows where Galfore is. We should go find him. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Her brows knotted momentarily. "I—I have decided I will not give in to Raven's terms."
"What?" His stomach wrenched. The calm that had begun to settle in him was shaken, once more. "B-But Starfire—"
"Galfore fought as fiercely as I did to protect the location of the stone. He would be disappointed in me if I exchanged that information to find him."
He stared at her, slack-jawed. "But what if he's a slave? You're just going to let him—"
"Yes, Robin. And I would expect the same from him."
He frowned. "Somehow, I couldn't picture Galfore choosing some stone over you."
"He should always choose the stone over me," she said, as if it were gospel. "I suppose I will have to go back in there and tell Raven. Did I hurt her too much? When I—when I hit her?"
"No. She's fine."
"Good."
"Starfire?"
"Yes?"
"You're still coming with us on the ship, right? I mean, it's not like you have anywhere to go—"
"I will leave the ship as soon as we leave Azarath, Robin."
He couldn't help himself. He stared at her, unable to summon the proper response. He had vaguely expected this, of course; this separation. But until he had heard her say it, there was no certainty of its coming to pass. He had hoped, even before, that he could somehow change her mind, and maybe he thought she would stick around for much longer because there was Galfore to retrieve, but now that she had outwardly declared that she was leaving, that she had absolutely decided on it, he felt a little forgotten.
Longer than she should have…
He remembered her saying something during the picnic, about how she never stayed in one place for very long because she forged bonds she didn't want to have to deal with when the time for leaving came. That was the crux of it, he supposed: She always had to go. Whether she wanted to stay or not, she always had to go.
The thought was disheartening.
So that was it. The moment was over.
He frowned. This was exactly the kind of "shit" he was talking about. "If that's what you want."
She at least had the grace to redden momentarily. "Yes. I think I have stayed with the Mighty Titan longer than I should have, already."
"I guess you have." He turned for the doors. "We should go back inside. Talk to the others."
She stayed on her spot. He could feel her watching him but he wasn't going to wait around for her. The last thing he wanted to do was dwell on it now. There would be plenty of time for that later while drinking half a dozen beers with Cyborg.
"Robin?"
He wanted to ignore her but he stopped walking, and he cursed himself for his weakness. He turned his head only halfway. "What?"
"I…" She expelled a barely discernable sigh. "I really, really want to stay on the ship. It is just, well…"
"Yeah." He didn't want to hear the details. It hardly mattered. He'd said all he could to convince her; done all he could. If that hadn't been enough, then it never would be. He resumed walking, his footsteps echoing in the empty hall.
To be continued…
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Reflections of Raven: Mom could've genetically engineered them to be a little more subservient, but nooo…
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Author's note: Hello, friends! As promised, I released chapter 9 today and, wait, a BONUS! Chapter 10, too! That's to make up for all the waiting you had to do!
Anyway, I thank you all for waiting, reading and reviewing! I would like to make special mention of moezy-chan who gave a most inspiring review! Excellent observations and I also do appreciate how—in spite of that particular pairing I chose—you gave this story a chance. But most importantly, you also pointed out how I didn't delve on the effects wrought by the temple on Cyborg and Beast Boy, or how very little Starfire manifested the temple's effects on her. Keen; very keen observations. So accurate, it's gratifying. I did realize while writing Chapter 8 that I had a difficult time with these three. I managed a bit with Starfire, as you noticed, but Cyborg and Beast Boy were a doozy, simply because out of the Titans, Cyborg and Beast Boy's issues are more subtle. Cyborg's overall issue is his robotized body and Beast Boy's issue is the constant need for affirmation. How to show? Simply put, I didn't. Nevertheless, the issues are there. Perhaps when I go back and edit, I will be gifted with enlightenment, but for now, I did set Cyborg's and Beast Boy's issues aside, mainly because I could not fit it into the important aspects of the present storyline. Still, your review does deserve significant reflection. As I do with all of my stories, I am already thinking of a sequel for this one. Lol! It certainly does not mean I will have a sequel, you understand, but this early on in a story, I always consider making a part 2. Maybe Cyborg and Beast Boy's issue will find more attention there? Who knows!