Say Your Name
Part One
It was five o'clock in the morning but he knew that she'd be up. If she wasn't pacing around steadily in her bedroom, he'd find her in the control room staring out at the landscape of Jump.
Taking his long steps, he listened for all the movement not coming from his body. To his right he could hear the snores of Star and Blackfire. To this left was the slush and splash of Aqualad's rolling to his side. If he listened very closely he could hear Raven breathing, slowly, rhythmically. He could set his clock to her dreams… If only I knew what they were.
Robin finished his stride into the common room and sure enough Celine was working on her energy gauge. A rather thick manual was propped on the output monitor, screws and tools were arranged delicately as the brown skinned girl made her adjustments.
"Omicron! Do you ever sleep?" Robin asked, not surprised in the slightest when she didn't flinch.
"Sleep is for the weak." Celine replied, giving the panel a few more screws, tightening the last of the bolts. She returned her tools to her kit before turning to face him.
"I made the adjustments to the training course like you asked. I also upgraded the field to adjust for the variants in everyone's abilities. There's a special course for those with and without flight, high martial arts and hand to hand combat training, magic and energy based power sets. I don't know how good an idea this is but I also generated combat situations, putting pairs in distinct situations where they need to rely on each other… Star and Blackfire have one, Sakura and Terra another… and then another one for Terra and Raven."
"As much as neither of them are going to like it, we'll need to have that one in their training regiments… at least until they can stand to be in the same room together."
"Terra seems to be making an effort…"Celine offered, pulling her kit to her shoulder.
"Looks can be deceiving… And Raven is trying as well… she hasn't taken the opportunity to hurt Terra… and Raven isn't one for delayed gratification."
"It was very bad wasn't it?"
Robin nodded and sat down on the floor. Celine followed suit, smoothing out her grey skirt. "No one had ever hurt us like that… Even when I… when I was Slade's apprentice, I was reserved… I never wanted to hurt the team… I wanted to protect them… But with Terra… she systematically sought us out, took our friendship for weakness and left us all wounded."
"But she had the ability to destroy you… and she failed every time… could that have been reserve?"
Robin shook his head. "No… she didn't have the power to destroy us. She could hurt us… but she couldn't break us. Starfire was too resilient. I was too determined. Cyborg and Beast Boy refused to accept defeat…"
"And Raven?"
"And Raven couldn't let the last thing she saw in the world be a look of hatred. She has done too much good to be regarded that way anymore… Raven was the one who protected us against Terra, she wouldn't let us down.¹ I remember when Terra's last attack was going to crush me, I could feel Raven beneath me, pulling me under the shield of her wing…"
"Terra did terrible things to you… how do you forgive her?"
"How do you?" Robin asked, turning the question back on Celine. Celine reeled then turned her eyes away.
"I guess because I'd like to think that we're all capable of making up for our mistakes… Beast Boy had me convinced that Terra was really a good person when she wasn't Slade's apprentice."
"Maybe that's why I do too… Because someone I care about can take the risk of letting her back in… I don't think what happened before can happen again… but then again, I've never been a good judge of what is and what isn't possible."
"I'd say otherwise but you obviously know something I don't know… But what I do know is that you didn't come in here to talk to me about the obstacle course. That could have waited until after day break."
"You're right. I need to ask you something. I want to get Raven her favorite flowers…"
"Snapdragons aren't in season right now." Celine said, interrupting him.
"Did Sakura talk to you?"
"About what?" Celine asked, blinking her doe eyes.
Robin sweat dropped. Celine remained confused.
"Never mind. Anyways, you're right, Snapdragons aren't in bloom. They won't be in season for months. But I don't want to wait months." Robin admitted.
"And you want me to engineer a variety that will bloom in the next few days?"
Robin nodded.
"For a guy with tons of sophisticated toys, you don't know anything about science do you? Do you guys think I'm the go-to girl for all your outrageously impossible requests?"
Robin nodded. Celine's tool kit slammed into his head. Robin keeled over backwards, stars circling his head. He sat up, clutching his face in his fingers, a square red bruise obvious behind his hands. Celine wore a cross over her glare.
"I'm the smartest woman in the world Robin, not a genie."
"Does that mean you can't do it?" Robin asked, face still throbbing.
"There's nothing I can't do." Celine sighed and thought for a moment. "I'll pull all the strings I can to get this done for you… but its going to take at least a month."
Robin nodded. By then I'll have the nerve to give them to her.
…
Terra collapsed forward, breaking the circle. Her chest expanded painfully as she gasped for air. The sweat stung her eyes and if not for the pain in her throat she would have cried out in frustration.
Sakura and Raven recoiled their energy, the white and black power seeped back into their conscious state. Sakura turned to address Raven, Raven shook her head. She already knew.
The two watched as Terra tried to regain herself. They both considered easing the girl's transition back into the state of the body, but knew it would be better if she fought that struggle unassisted. At least until they felt like she deserved that help.
Terra had no idea mediation was so painful. She had seen Raven do it before, but always thought Raven was just sitting really still. She didn't know that Raven was suppressing all the power within her body when she floated as still as moon in the dark sky.
Outside the sun was rising, highlighting Terra's hair as she pitched forward. Sakura couldn't stand the sight anymore. She reached a hand across the void between them and touched Terra's head, her Holy running through her. Terra's breathing evened out and finally her blue eyes opened again.
"You do that to get your powers under control?" Terra asked.
"Yes, that's what mediation is. Challenging your mind with every power your body has. It's recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of both. The harder it is, the weaker they are."
Terra swallowed and looked at Raven who looked back at her with absolutely no emotion in her face; not compassion, not concern, not hate or even dislike.
Raven will never forgive me or learn to trust me again if she can't see me as a person… I can get stronger Raven, you'll see.
"I'm stronger than both of you know." Terra finally said.
Sakura said nothing and Raven refused to let her face betray her feelings. Terra didn't wait for them change their minds, their stares said everything she needed to know.
"If you really want to help me, you don't have to bully me." Terra whispered. She was angry. She had done terrible things in the past, but that didn't mean they could walk all over her.
"We're holding ourselves back to help you Terra. This is my compassion that you desire… if you don't want it, you can leave. But don't you dare say I gave up on you."
Terra bit her lip. She had almost made up her mind when Celine's voice called through their communicators. "Titans, training begins in five minutes. Meet in training ground A for preliminary exercises."
By the time Starfire ran through the obstacle course, the path was trashed beyond reorganization. It was apparent that a gorilla, the Boy Wonder, the demigod of the sea, an empath and a Tameranian powerhouse were too much for the course to take. That left Sakura, Blackfire, Terra, and Bumble Bee without a run through.
"What a jip! I wanted to see what Sakura could do!" Beast Boy wailed.
"Not today, this course needs a serious upgrade… I thought I had prepared for the worst of it…" Celine rubbed her head trying to figure out whether it was the Starbolts or exploding disks that took the course to the ground. Cyborg sprouted up behind her.
"You're getting sloppy Omicron." He posited. Celine could almost hear the cheekiness of his grin.
Fire erupted from Celine's head. Her shoulders remained in place as her head turned to face Cyborg. "What did you say?" Cyborg sputtered then took off in a mad dash, willing to run anywhere, as long as it was away from the girl genius.
"Well, I don't see why we can't still train." Bumble Bee responded.
"How's that?"
"Well, Sakura, Terra, Blackfire and I can spar. There's enough space in the training room I suppose." Bumble Bee replied.
"I don't know if that's a good idea…"Robin stated, looking from his sister to Bumble Bee and Blackfire.
"Why not? Sakura won't get hurt." Bee responded, turning her hips.
"It's not me he's worried about." Sakura replied. She adjusted the strap that bore her hiraikotsu.
"You think you can take all of us?" Bee asked, raising a sleek eyebrow.
Robin stepped between the two girls. "Let's not do this. Bumble Bee, trust me… fighting my sister is not a good idea." Robin muttered something in her general direction.
"Huh?"
"She'd crush you like a…" Robin felt Bee's shadow tower over him. He didn't dare finish his sentence.
"If you wanna spar Bee, that's fine with me. Just don't hold anything back… I'm not going to."
"You're on."
Robin muttered something that sounded distinctly like "your funeral" and stepped off to the side where Cyborg was tapping out to the half nelson Celine had him in. The other Titans backed away as Sakura and Bumble Bee squared each other up.
Blackfire turned to her sister. "I do not understand. They are friends… why would they desire to fight?" Something about the way Blackfire spoke reminded Starfire of something, something that should have come to her mind easily, but instead was frazzled by her worries. Blackfire became concerned when Starfire didn't answer.
"Don't worry Blackfire," Aqualad said. "They aren't trying to hurt each other. They're just practicing. It's just another way to get better."
"Oh… thank you Aqualad."
Aqualad blushed red and stuttered out a "you're welcome" before collapsing onto himself in embarrassment.
In the center of the training arena, Sakura readied herself. The moment Bumble Bee twitched a muscle; Sakura shifted all her weight to the balls of her feet and dashed forward. Her elbow slammed into Bumble Bee's breadbasket. Bee crumbled to the ground. The rest of the team grimaced.
Bumble Bee pulled herself together and delivered a frenzy of Bee Stings². Each one ricocheted off of Sakura's barrier. Sakura charged forward in a swift combo, striking out with a tomahawk club, smashing her shoulder into Bumble Bee's chest.³ Bumble Bee was thrown back several feet and didn't get up.
"Next?"
Blackfire was not volunteering her services. Terra stood up and marched up to Sakura, stopping with several feet in front of the older girl. Sakura took an offensive stance.
"You're not that tough." Terra said.
"I beg to differ."
You will beg… Terra cracked her knuckles. "You may be good at martial arts, but you can't match the anger of the land."
Sakura smirked. "I'm not going to hold anything back. That will be my compassion."
Terra was not going to let Sakura have the last word. "Laaa!" The earth was torn beneath Sakura's feet, the ground quaking and splitting apart. Sakura leapt across the chasm Terra created and landed a foot in front of the blond girl. Terra's fist soared over Sakura's head as she dodged the blow. Sakura rose quickly bringing an uppercut and a rising knee, both striking Terra, knocking her back. Sakura leapt into the air, leapfrogging, intent to land her boots squarely in Terra's chest. Terra rolled quickly and threw several stones at Sakura. She weaved about them smoothly. Terra used the time to gather the land beneath her, drawing a stone to glide through the air. Just as Sakura drew back her arm to hurl her hiraikotsu, a hand made of earth snaked from the ground and grabbed her ankle, tossing her off balance.
Terra's riding stone dashed forward to take advantage. Sakura wasn't fazed. She put up a barrier that rebounded Terra's charge. When Terra rolled to reset herself, Sakura drew her left fist into a ball and with a downward punch shattered the earth around her leg. Sakura tumbled out of the path of several rock shards. A jump kick knocked Terra from her stone, the girl rolled several feet from the impact. Sakura jammed her weapon into the earth and charged at Terra again, a flurry of kicks and punches, uppercuts and sweeps took Terra to the ground. Terra slammed face first into the ground. She had been beaten. She gritted and sunk her fingers into the cold soil. But Terra didn't make a move to stand.
Sakura pushed a lock of black hair from her face. She tumbled backwards, back flips, flip-flops and step outs completed in perfect form. She waited for Terra to get up, but she didn't. Terra turned a dirty face back to Sakura, a sneer etched across her features. She got to her knees then staggered to her feet. Beast Boy ran to her side.
"Terra! Are you okay?" He helped her stand. Beast Boy motioned Terra to sit by Raven to heal her wounds, but she refused. Limping she left arena. "Terra!" Beast Boy called after her.
"Don't follow me!" She demanded as the door closed behind her.
Blackfire turned to Aqualad. "I thought no one would get hurt."
"Pride doesn't count."
Blackfire seemed to ingest Raven's words and made up her mind to step in for her training.
"Blackfire? Are you sure you want to try? I'm not going to hold back." Sakura said.
Blackfire nodded. "Training makes you better… You learn as much from your defeats as from your victories."
Again, Starfire felt like she had heard those words before. They rung familiar, but it wasn't from Blackfire she had first heard it. It was something she should be able to identify, but her mind felt like a Zorbian blartex, the excess glurp was not a pleasant feeling.
Starfire watched her older sister step closer to Sakura.
The first blow caught Blackfire off guard. Sakura's lashing fist slammed into the armor plate of her chest. Blackfire's eye beams came faster than Sakura could block, knocking the black haired martial artist halfway across the arena. She skid to a stop, realizing Blackfire had separated her from her weapon. Sakura rolled over her shoulders just in time to avoid a blizzard of Blackbolts. She flipped and turned in what seemed to be a random pattern. The energy claps trailed her until Sakura shifted gears and catapulted herself from a wall, elevating her just high enough tackle Blackfire. The two rolled until Sakura could lift both her heels into Blackfire's chest, sending the girl over her head. Blackfire bounced just once before taking flight. She was out of Sakura's range. A short battle cry escaped the girl as she unleashed her eye beams again; tearing a furrow though the ground until the beams reached Sakura's feet.
The dust kicked up and blocked Blackfire's view. The glow from her eyes faded as she looked for sight of Sakura. The dust settled revealing Sakura where she was, protected by a silver barrier. Sakura uncrossed her arms, the barrier dissipated. She drew her hands back in a ball shape. A glassy globe of energy generated in the space. Blackfire's eyes widened as Sakura threw the energy at her.
Blackfire crossed her arms over her face to shield herself. A bubbly spray splashed across her arms.
"Huh?" Blackfire unfolded her arms. It hadn't hurt at all. The hiraikotsu slamming into her stomach was a totally different sensation. "Umph!" Blackfire grunted. The hiraikotsu continued its path. The Tameranian princess fell to the ground, caught from collision by Aqualad.
"Thank you Aqualad." Blackfire whispered, placing her arms around his neck.
"I please to aim." Aqualad replied.
"Wow! I knew you had to be good, but I didn't know you were that good!" Cyborg exclaimed, rubbing his sore shoulder.
"I bet she could beat up Robin!" Beast Boy squawked.
"I don't think she's that good." Cyborg replied.
"She sooo could!" Beast Boy shouted at the mechanical Titan.
"She sooo can't!" Cyborg mocked.
"Guys calm down!" Robin yelled over the quarreling teammates.
"Yeah," Sakura stepped closer to the threesome. "There's no need to argue."
"Right." Robin said.
"Yeah, I can beat Robin. So Beast Boy's right."
Robin turned beet red. "What?"
"I said Beast Boy is right. I'm still a better fighter than you little brother." Sakura laughed.
"You know Sakura…" Robin began. The older girl turned to him, an eyebrow raised, both hands on her hips. "It's been a very long time since we last sparred."
Sakura smiled. "It has. What do you say? One round?"
Robin smiled back. "You're on."
Cyborg and Beast Boy stood stupefied. They were going to watch the sibling acrobatic, martial arts masters duke it out. They sat down along the wall with the other onlookers holding up banners for their respective fighters.
Robin and Sakura had the exact same cocky grin. Robin lifted his right hand and gestured for his sister to come at him. "With everything I've got." Sakura replied.
"Bring it." Robin taunted.
Sakura smirked and threw back her arm, the hiraikotsu ready to fly. She leaned her weight back and at the perfect angle tilted her body forward to throw the heavy boomerang. Her wrist flicked and unleashed the hiraikotsu, aimed at the Boy Wonder, leaving him without enough time to react. The path of the weapon was interrupted by a hot flash of energy zooming inches away from Sakura's face and striking the boomerang. Her eyes trailed the bolt as her weapon was embedded in the wall. It wasn't just any bolt, it was an arrow. Sakura turned to the source. A masked fighter stood, a new arrow drawn and pulled back taunt. Sakura flickered her gaze back to Robin.
"Friend of yours?"
"I was just about to ask the same question." Speedy stated.
Sakura's eyebrow rose. "You must be Speedy."
Speedy smirked. "Well, we all know who I am… who are you?"
Sakura's cocky grin slipped in across her face. Without missing a beat she demonstrated her acrobatic skills; a series of tumbles lead her towards the far wall. Speedy's arrows trailed behind her, marking her path only millimeters from her tumbling hands and heels. Sakura ran up the wall, wrenching her weapon from the panel and somersaulted, her body in the perfect position to throw her hiraikotsu at Speedy. Speedy dodged the weapon and fired a knock out arrow at Sakura that managed to reach her before her barrier was complete. It slammed into her stomach. Sakura rolled back a few feet, she rose her weight to her feet and hands, lifting her head just in time to watch her boomerang slam into the earth just inches away from her head.
A quick dash, running with a barrier in front of her, allowed Sakura to get close enough to crash an elbow into Speedy's side. While he was offset, she swept low with a pair of sliding kicks. The first nicked his boot, the other he leapt out of its path. He hopped back several feet, Sakura watched with amusement clearly on her face.
"You're good." Sakura said.
"Yeah, I know." Speedy unleashed a rainstorm of arrows. Sakura flipped and rolled out of all of their paths, throwing up a shield when knock-out arrows were randomly incorporated into the mix. Sakura matched Speedy's skill with her Xing Yi, side stepping and always moving. Sakura regained her weapon and the two held a stand still. Sakura waited unflinchingly, fingers tight around the grip of her boomerang. Speedy's fingers flexed and recoiled along his bow, a gold arrow stretched against the strings.
In the peanut gallery Cyborg and Beast Boy were stunned by the amazing fight scene they were watching. Robin and Raven were both equally surprised by the display. Speedy had gotten good while he was gone. No one yet had matched Sakura for more than two minutes. Speedy had been holding his own for twenty.
Speedy and Sakura watched their opponent for the slightest moment of weakness. For three minutes they both stood perfectly still. Realizing that it was quite possible that Beast Boy was going to explode from his anxiety, Robin stood up, unsure if he had imagined his fingers brushing against Raven's; he knew he felt a spark… he wanted to believe it was coming from her. Robin stood and carried his voice to the two fighters.
"Maybe we should just call it a draw!"
Speedy saw it. Her eyes had turned to face Robin's for just a second. He was going to win. Speedy's fingers snapped open; his last arrow took to the air, splitting it like a saber through stone. Sakura at that same moment heaved her hiraikotsu forward, Speedy in her sights.
The team watched the arrow and the boomerang cut through the air, lined up perfectly, on the exact same path, in different directions. The wind marked the path of the weapons, in the moment they should meet; Speedy's arrow slipped in the crock of the weapon and both weapons continued their path. Speedy's arrow burst open. The net sprung forward. Sakura was caught by surprise. The net wrapped around her, pulling her body in an awkward angle until she fell to the ground. The hiraikotsu slammed into the ground in front of Speedy. Turning his shoulder allowed him to escape its path. Speedy smirked and stalked forward to claim his victory. Sakura didn't struggle for a moment, just watched with her huge doe eyes as Speedy leaned over her, that cocky grin displaying his handsome features.
"I think I win." Speedy said.
Sakura smirked. "I think not."
The defining quality of the boomerang caught up with Speedy. The return path was perfect. The giant boomerang smashed into his back, spinning in place to wear him down. Speedy collapsed forward, landing directly on top of Sakura. Above them, the hiraikotsu slammed nosily into the wall.
"It's a draw." Robin declared.
Sakura placed a hand on Speedy's chest, her healing energy running through him. Speedy pulled himself back, freeing his opponent from his web. Sakura sat up and looked Speedy in his masked eyes.
"My name is Sakura."
Speedy rubbed his head thoughtfully. Sakura stood up and offered Speedy a hand. He took it and gripped it in a firm shake. "Pleasure."
End of Part One
A/N
¹ Another reference to a great fanfic "The Rescue or Raven's Revenge" by chidogs
²I've decided that's the official name of her move. Starfire has Starbolts, Blackfire has Blackbolts, Bumble Bee has Bee Stings.
³Playing Tekken five will greatly improve the detail of this part.