Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, because if I did, then I would make Raven and Beast Boy get married, and then they would move to Honolulu, where they would form their own Tower in the shape of a backwards R and a Forewards B, kinda like, яв only connected, and they would have little morphing gothic children. ANOTHER STORY! YAY!

Chapter Six

The next few years seemed to flow by, as if I were caught in another time warp. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. The next thing I knew, it had been three years since I left my time and joined Speedy here. As I had expected, I got restless very easily. Walking into the city was fun, but I found myself evaluating the difficulty of taking items I saw in store windows, or pick-pocketing someone with a fat wallet. Even though I almost constantly thought of thievery, I was true to my word. I never stole during my stay Speedy's.

Despite the training, living with Speedy was kind of boring. I guess I caught him on one of his rare "flight of the hero" days, because since that say, we only encountered trouble once: a kitten had gotten stuck in a tree. Perhaps it was also because there was hardly any trouble to be caught. Speedy was right about that giant T building. It did change the city. It wasn't long after it was build that the city learned of the Teen Titans. At first, there was only one person who lived in the building. Robin, the boy wonder. It's a wonder that skinny punk didn't get incinerated on his first crime-fighting spree. But then another joined him not even two days after. Cyborg, the half man half machine. He was pretty good, but that thing with his battery cell, that could cause serious problems in battle. Then Beast Boy, the animal/boy, joined them. Transforms into any animal. Kind of cool, but being green is a dead give-away. Hardly what I would call an advantage. The next one seemed to have to be convinced to join the developing team. A cloak hid her, so I never saw her face up close until…well, I'll get to that later. Anyway, she was so dark, she could scare the shadow off of a demon.

I remember the day the last member joined the team perfectly. I had gotten a rare moment alone, and I was lying on my back on a giant hill a little ways from the cabin. I was thinking about what Frank was doing right now, or rather, what he will do, or something like that. My head was starting to hurt, so I didn't register what I was looking at for a second. Then, snapping out of my confused thought process, I looked up. There was a shooting star. Thinking "What the Hell." I made a wish on it. Staring, I realized quickly that it was not a shooting star, and it was heading straight for me! It got closer and closer. I barely had time to get out of the way before it hit the spot where I had been laying just a few seconds ago with alarming force. A crater had formed around what had hit the ground, the area smoking a little. Going to investigate, I peered over the crater, but before I could get too much closer, a girl jumped out of the hole! She was wearing a skimpy purple number that made me whistle. Hearing the noise, she turned around, her hands glowing an ominous green. I put my hands up instinctively, but I wasn't paying attention to them. I saw her face and realized she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

I guess it registered with her that I didn't mean any harm, so she let down her guard. She opened her mouth to ask me something, but she spoke a language I had never heard before. "Fungar dornbung gurflap Bontaldal!" she asked. I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"I have no idea what you just said." She gave a confused stare, and realized our dilemma. She held up her arms to form what was undoubtedly a giant T, and I knew what she wanted.

"Ah! So you are a new member to the team? Good luck then, cutie. I know you don't understand a word I'm saying, but if you did, I would ask you out. Oh well…" I pointed to the newly dubbed Titans Tower, and she gave a squeal of delight. Waving at me, she soared off in the direction of the tower.

"They are so lucky. Oh well, time to get back." I said to myself. But a day didn't pass that I did not think of her. I thought of her almost as much as I did about stealing. I wondered how she was adjusting and so on. I didn't have to worry about that. Speedy and I saw them in action plenty of times. One day, after we had just seen them take down this giant cinderblock thing, Speedy turned to me and said, "If I don't end up being a side-kick to the Green Arrow, I think I'll join the Teen Titans. Doesn't that sound cool? We could be crime-fighting heroes. I could be Speedy, the fastest arrow in the city, and you could be Lanky, the agility master."

"Ha ha, very funny. But no, you can join them. I never would. That's no place for someone like me. I'd just cause problems." I was, of course, thinking of he red headed space beauty. Her name was Starfire.

"No you wouldn't! You're a hero, like me!" Said Speedy. I looked at him, and even though I knew something like this was bound to happen, I didn't want it to.

"Speedy, I am not a hero. I'm…different. I mean the training is great, but I still think about…"

"You promised me that you wouldn't steal anything while you lived in my house!" he said, yelling loudly, knowing what I was about to say.

"And I haven't! But you couldn't have expected to change me! It's in my blood! No matter how much you teach me to be good, or dress me up as a hero, I will always be a thief. That's just the path I'm meant to take!"

"I don't believe that. You think about it as if it was some hereditary disease, but I know better. You like it, and I know that's what you are thinking about when we go into the city, but I chose to ignore it. Well, I can't have that anymore. If you can't be like me, or like any other decent person, then there is no room in my house for you anymore." He said, staring at me, and breathing hard.

"I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but just listen to me for a minute. No matter where life takes us, I will always be grateful for what you did for me. I don't expect you to understand what it is about me that has to do this, but I do. We might be enemies as time goes by, but I will never fight you. You could beat me to a pulp, but I won't fight you, understand?"

"No! You think you are doing a favor for me or something? Showing me respect? Well, you're not. If I see you on the street, no matter what kind of pity story you roll out, you will still be a criminal to me, and I don't expect anything except the best from you. You understand?"

I looked at him, and smiled. "Yeah, that is, if you can find me. I'll pack my things. See you around, kid. I hope one day we can put this behind us, and be like we used to be." I walked back to the house to pack my things. As usual, Brave Bow seemed to know what had happened before any of us could tell him. He did not say anything, just nodded his head when I said good-bye. As I left the house, I saw Speedy standing off the side of the porch, careful not to look in my direction.

I turned to him, and said, "Whenever you need me, I will always have your back. This might make you hate me, but one day you will learn that having a friend is more important than having an enemy. You might be strong, but your mind is weak if you think otherwise." I walked away. An arrow landed in front of my path, and I looked around. Speedy was looking at me, a sour expression on his face. Laughing bitterly, I waved and walked off.

I didn't see Speedy again as Tim Drake for another three years, but we had many encounters in between. He just didn't know it.