As Robin and Beast Boy took the decorations from the attic, Robin handed them to Marlis who flew them towards the main room. She whistled a Christmas carrol as she flew, opening each box as she set them down. About ten boxes later the three of them stood and looked at the boxes with exhasperated looks on thier faces. Beast Boy was the first to say anything. "Well...I guess we should start with that one,"he said, pointing to the first box. Robin and Marlis nodded before slowly taking out bands of tensil and statues of Santa Clause. Almost immediately, Marlis gasped. "I almost forgot something!"she exclaimed, rushing to her room. When she came out, she held two statues in her hands. The first was of Santa Clause, but this one was different fromt he rest. He had a blue robe with silver lining, his hair was longer than usual and his hat matched his robe perfectly. He sparkled in the light due to a few sparkles here and there. The other was of a small child, no older than three. She had long, curly black hair and her eyes were closed as she hugged a small bear. The child was still in her long sleeved white nightgown; she stood on the balls of her feet. From her back were two large angelic wings that held her up. At the bottom was a small sign that read, "Our Little Angel."
As she held them up, Robin and Beast Boy smiled. "Dude, that's awesome!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"Did you make them?"Robin asked. With a sad smile, Marlis shook her head.
"My mother used to make many things. Dogs, cats, the occasional vampire or witch for Halloween. But these was her greatest creation. Or, that's what I always thought. So, when our home was being destoryed I ran inside and got a few of her statues, one for each holiday. Every holiday she made one of me, which I had grabbed. They used to call me their little angel which made me feel like I was responsible for their deaths," she explained, trailing off. Looking down at the statues she smiled. "But, as I grew older I realized that I couldn't have saved them, no matter how hard I might have wanted to. Being only six, I was lucky to get out alive. If you want, we could put the Santa up," she continued, not bothering to offer the angel. She wasn't that much protective of them but she didn't want to have a statue of herself already up; she was barely considered a friend by anyone except Starfire.
Beast Boy and Robin nodded before Cyborg and Starfire burst through the door, followed by the tree and then by Raven. "Hey y'all! We got the best tree in the lot!" Cyborg yelled, putting the tree in the corner of the main room. Starfire clapped and looked at the statues Marlis still had in her hand.
"Friend Marlis, these are beautiful. Did you not buy these at the 'mall of shopping'?" she asked with a smile. Marlis shook her head and again repeated the small story. When she was done, Starfire took the statues from Marlis and put them on either side of the tree. Smiling, Starfire grabbed boxes of christmas ornaments and in one quick motion had them on the tree. Soon, everyone was putting on ornaments while Cyborg and Robin put the tree on a small blanket and into a bucket to give it water.
In less than two hours the tower was decorated, tinsel in almsot every window, along with a few small statues of Rudolph or snowmen. It was only about 10 o'clock when it was finished, but everyone was already tired and retreated to thier rooms.
"One thousand ninety-eight, One thousand ninety-nine, Two thousand," Marlis muttered. She hadn't been able to get to sleep all night and it was torture. She looked around and saw the window; it had no curtains in it and she could easily see the ocean from here. Standing up, Marlis walked towards the windows and placed a hand on it. She could see a faint reflection of herself and she smiled a bit. She had baggy pajama pants on with small ducks with a tank top that matched perfectly; before she had gone to bed she had asked Starfire if she could braid her hair since she never learned how. Hearing her stomach rumble, Marlis slowly began to walk from her room. Not wanting to wake up the other titans, Marlis took flight and made sure she didn't hit anything.
As she flew closer to the kitchen she could see a faint light was on. Sitting at the table was Beast Boy, half asleep. With a smirk, Marlis flew behind him and said,"Hey Beast Boy." He screamed and jumped, almost falling. Marlis giggled a bit before setting herself down on the floor.
"Why are you up so late?"he asked, regaining his breath. Marlis shrugged a bit before her stomach growled again.
"That. I've been up for the past hour or so trying to count sheep..."she said before walking over to the fridge.
"Don't eat anything fuzzy or blue,"Beast Boy said before Marlis started to look in the freezer. Finding a white waffle she took it out and looked at Beast Boy.
"Why is this white?"she asked.
"It's a tofu waffle. Try it, you might like it,"he said with a large grin. Shrugging, Marlis took one and put it in the toaster. As she waited she sat next to Beast Boy.
"Beast Boy...can you tell me about Terra?"she asked somewhat cautiously. He seemed to grow tense and his voice grew cold.
"There's nothing to say. She betrayed us..."
"But...there's more, isn't there?"she asked. He looked at her and then nodded.
"Terra was my best friend. I...well, I loved her. And I think that at one point she loved me too. She was very confused but she was as tough as could be. She never gave up if there was a problem and she was sort of one sided about everything. But she was the nicest person I'd ever met..." Beast Boy's eyes seemed to cloud over but before Marlis could say anything the waffles popped up. She patted his back before flying over to the waffles. Well, they smelled like waffles..and sort of looked like waffles...hopefully they would taste like waffles. As she took a bite out of it she was surprised that they actually tasted good. With a soft "Mmm" she went back to the seat beside the green Titan. "She sounds like it. How long ago did it happen?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't pushing her limits.
"Almost a year ago,"he muttered. Marlis could see as a tear fell from his cheek. She took his face in her hands and made her look at him. While she wiped away his tears, she sighed.
"Being me, I hate to see people cry. But I know how you feel. Sort of. So, I'll let you cry. But remember, astronauts grow taller in space," she said seriously. Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at her before pouting.
"I'm the funny one,"he responded with a small chuckle.
"You were the funny one. And thanks for the waffle, it rocked. No butter needed. Since that training thing starts at ten, think we should try to get some sleep?"she offered with a yawn. Beast Boy nodded and the two slowly made their way back to their own rooms.