Remembersees
Part Three
Terra didn't understand the severity of the situation. She just didn't. All she knew was that Beast Boy was tearing up the mail because he didn't receive a Zoo Life book. His morning had started off with him at a ridiculous level of excitement. His afternoon seemed to be the end of his life.
Morning came and sat for the longest time. Beast Boy had all but forced Terra and Celine to join his and Cyborg's tournament. The four sat in the common room with controllers in hand. The bright screen flashed, prompting the players to design their characters for battle. Cyborg twisted and scrolled through his options and Beast Boy seemed to pick his parts at random. Celine and Terra sat side by side thoroughly uninspired to follow suit.
"Now explain to me again why I'm doing this?" Celine asked.
"The object of the game is to beat as many bad guys as possible." Beast Boy replied.
"And you think I don't get enough of this in the real world…why?"
"It's not just beating the bad guys, we're beating each other!"
"Because that sounds like fun." Celine deadpanned.
"It's like the training we do! We can see how far we can push each other." Beast Boy said, making the last adjustments to his character.
"You mean it's just another way for you to beat each other up?" Terra replied.
"Right." "Yep."
"I guess this way no one gets bruised." Celine said, scrolling slowly through the features. She couldn't help but notice a bias in the female options towards skimpy clothes and not much else. She could tell she wasn't going to like this at all. Terra scratched the side of her face and picked a few random buttons, locking in her character. A few seconds later Beast Boy's button mashing stopped. He was locked in too.
"Come on Omicron." Cyborg said, others could hear the cheekiness in his voice rising. "I promise I'll go easy on you." Cyborg entered the last of his key combination, he's fitted player ready for battle.
"Go easy on me?"
"I've won the last six times in a row. There's no way you're going to beat me." Cyborg replied, flexing his muscle.
Celine raised an eyebrow and accepted the challenge. The virtual stadium roared to life. The players marched and conquered, each of the four players controlling an army of one: dashing across bridges, into crowded building and across corrals. The thrill of the "bang bang shoot-'em up action" was lost on Celine. She was the first to drop out. Cyborg had sought her out and in his over-familiarity with the game, took her down a peg. Terra tossed down her controller when the boys eliminated her as well.
"Looks like it's just you and me." Beast Boy said, turning his green eyes just for a moment to look at his competitor.
"Yep. Ready to taste defeat?"
"Somehow I don't think seven is going to be your lucky number." Beast Boy replied.
The game paced on, eventually Terra lost interest and in all honesty so did Celine, but Celine choose to sit and wait for a winner. After two hours, she got one. Cyborg was methodical; Beast Boy seemed to be acting on impulses. Tiny flickers of action sparked on the screen, little men toppled and lost and the scenery pivoted with each flicker of a thumb.
The colors raced and tumbled as Beast Boy and Cyborg directed their challengers in a one on one pursuit. The chasing was the longest part and if Celine wanted to admit it, it got rather boring. But was rewarded for her ability to sit in one place: before her eyes, was a standstill.
Beast Boy and Cyborg stood perfectly still, both on screen and off. Their two players, a methodical rampage on two legs towered over the wiry, hodgepodge of a character. Their hold off lasted until Celine got bored and dropped her chin into her hand. Cyborg drew and so did Beast Boy.
The screen fizzled and whipped with excitement as the onslaught rained in thousands of pixels per second. The animated dust blocked the battle shot. Cyborg turned to Beast Boy.
"I drew faster than you. Looks like I win again."
"Dude, there's no way you beat me."
"How could I not? My guy is infinitely better than yours."
"I don't think so."
"Would you like me to count them off? I've got all the time in the----"
"The smokes clearing." Celine said.
The pair turned to the screen. The victor stood tall.
"Yes!" Beast Boy rocketed into the air, his excitement streaming from beneath him.
Cyborg's jaw dropped. His controller fell to the floor unattended. Celine waved a hand in front of his face. He wasn't blinking. It would take her tapping his metal headwear to get a response.
"That's not possible!" The force of the verbal assault knocked Celine off the couch.
"Not only is it possible it happened!" Beast Boy shouted.
Beast Boy morphed in rapid succession as he bounced up and down on the couch. He didn't have to say a word, Cyborg knew he was gloating. He fumed silently as Beast Boy continued to jump around.
"I am the King!" Beast Boy finally said, dancing about in what could only be called a victory jig. Celine found it amusing, Cyborg found it anything but. Eventually the green changeling became bold, turning into a kitten and taking to leaping and bounding over Cyborg's parts. The mechanical crime fighter swatted at the hurdling ball of green fur. Celine stood up giving Beast Boy the perfect place to dive when Cyborg's hand came dangerously close to catching him.
Celine blinked twice when Beast Boy landed on her head. The green kitten dropped its head to stare her in the face. Celine reached up and gently pulled the animal from her head, securing him in her arm.
"Well then, come on Beast King. The mail's probably here. I suggest we go before Cyborg crumbles in on himself from the shame of defeat." The green cat purred. Celine smirked at Cyborg, watching the red waves of anger rise from his head. The pair walked off, their backs turned when Cyborg stuck out his tongue.
"I saw that you sore loser!" Celine yelled back at him. Cyborg grimaced. Seeing Beast Boy's kitten face peeking back at him didn't help his mood. The mechanical man stomped off, muttering something along the lines of "everyone gets a free one" before he disappeared into the kitchen.
As he walked past the window, he could barely make out the shape of Aqualad and Blackfire on the beach. Aqualad stood in the waist deep water, his shirt left behind as a blanket for Blackfire. The Atlantian's body was covered in the sea water, the salt didn't bother him: he thrived in it. The clear water began to spin and twirl as Aqualad concentrated his powers. On the beach, Blackfire watched intently. The dance of the water was fabulous, the flashes of colors caught from the sun and the tiny creatures at the water's floor shimmered. Aqualad's smile radiated. Blackfire had to smile as well.
Aqualad raised his right hand over his head, with it a wave of water nearly thirty feet high followed his motion. The sun sparkled against the tiny grains of salt, a steady stream of color danced against the arc of water. The shadow of the wave took nothing away from the bronze and beauty of Aqualad's skin, his smile standing out as the most beautiful sight to take in.
Blackfire watched the water spin and hover along the sky. When the water pulled back, returning to the greater ocean, Blackfire rose to her knees. Against the sky a rainbow had formed. Blackfire had never seen colors so wonderful. Her hands clasped together as she gasped in delight.
Aqualad slowly approached the beach, watching Blackfire watch the sky. As hard as he tried to remember, he knew he had never seen eyes so wide and beautiful. Aqualad smiled as he came to stand beside her. She took her eyes away from the rainbow to look at him.
"It is beautiful… The colors are all so wonderful."
"I'm glad you liked it."
Blackfire smiled and turned her eyes to see those colors again. Aqualad pivoted his body to watch as well. He would notice first, if Blackfire noticed at all would remain unclear, the tiny flash of energy racing off the end of the rainbow. Aqualad's brow furrowed for a moment, realizing it was a space craft, but he forgot all his thoughts when Blackfire's delicate hand touched his arm. Aqualad tried not to blush, but it was the first time her skin had ever touched his. It felt as wonderful as he had imagined.
"Blackfire." Aqualad said. He tensed slightly when he felt her grasp flex and relax. "Blackfire, I… I like… being with you." Inside Aqualad's heart dropped kicked his stomach, twisting the organ about. That was not what he wanted to say, he wanted to say so much more. He could turn a million girls to look and stare at him and then break a million hearts… but Blackfire was his million-and-one… and that was his limit.
Blackfire smiled, turning her pretty face to look at him. "I enjoy the presence of your company as well Aqualad."
"Right… but do you think you could enjoy my company exclusively?"
Blackfire didn't exactly understand what Aqualad's words meant, but had a feeling that what he asked of her was what the girls had been hinting at as "being Aqualad's girl". She could see in Aqualad's face that he was hesitant. She had seen him fidgeting nervously around her and found it one of her favorite qualities in Aqualad: he was uncertain in his actions as well. Since she had become good friends with the Atlantian Titan, Blackfire didn't feel the desperation that her sister suggested she should feel. Her mind was mostly a blank slate, but what she did hold there were wonderful moments with Aqualad. She didn't know if it were true or not that she had never felt that way about anyone before, but she did know that it didn't matter.
"You desire to be my Robin?" Blackfire asked.
"If you're willing to be my Raven."
"You do not wear a mask." Blackfire stated.
"No I don't. This way I can see everything." Aqualad swallowed shallowly, trying to keep his nerves in check as he reached his fingers to trace the curved on Blackfire's face. Those strong fingers grazed her neck lightly until they rested on her shoulder. "I… I…"
"I'm glad." Blackfire said simply.
Inside the tower, glad did not describe the mood. Beast Boy tore through the mail bin, tossing fan letters and bills, articles and useless newspapers about in a frenzy. He cut his finger through his glove in his terrible haste. It wasn't there. Why isn't it here?
Celine sat on the floor sorting through Beast Boy's wreckage just incase in his worry he had overlooked what he was looking for. Beast Boy's hands worked in a terrible panic. It has to be here! It has to! He poured through fan letters, bills and miscellaneous garbage but couldn't find his magazine. Terra found him under a pile of shredded mail.
"Beast Boy… what are you doing?"
"I'm looking for my magazine! It's got to be in here!"
Terra reached down and handled a mangled fan letter addressed to Starfire and another one for Cyborg. Starfire's was nearly torn to shreds, salvaging Cyborg's would take more time and tape than she was willing to commit. She dropped the letters back into the pile and sighed.
"So you're destroying everyone else's mail to find a stupid magazine?"
"It's not stupid!" Beast Boy yelled, his fists were balled up. To Celine it looked like he was prepared to cry. Celine stood up and walked around a furiously hunting green bloodhound until she stood side by side with Terra.
"His magazine is really important to him."
"I don't see why a Zoo Life magazine holds so much value."
The two girls watched Beast Boy collapse in frustration on top of the shredded mail.
"It's not the magazine that he cares about."
Terra tightened her brow. Celine obviously knew something that she didn't. She had noticed in her time back with the Titans that Beast Boy spent a lot of his day with Celine. More so than he did with Cyborg and the others and definitely more than he spent with her. Terra looked up at the girl genius: her pretty brown skin, her flowing dark red hair, the curves that didn't quit… the legs up to her face… Terra had seen the way Beast Boy was with Celine, pulling her along with him when they had went to the mall, how he constantly involved her in anything he did, whether or not Terra was also invited; how he'd stand up extra straight to emphasize the shrinking height difference between the pair. Celine was the nice girl, the pretty one that turned heads wherever she went.
Terra could tell Beast Boy wasn't immune to her charms. Terra didn't wear jealously well.
Terra put a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. He didn't shake it off, but didn't seem to notice it either. "You'll find it." Terra said simply.
Behind them the door to the tower began to open.
"Beast Boy." Celine said, turning to face the opening door, "Maybe that's the postman, he might have had double loads and he's bringing it now."
Beast Boy leapt to his feet, toppling Terra into a pile of papers. Celine grimaced before reaching down and righting the geomancer. That was the position they'd be in when the door opened: Celine pulling Terra out of a pile of torn papers while Beast Boy rushed to the door. It had to be it! Beast Boy surmised. Good news always used the front door.¹
…
Robin had never skipped in his life. Ever. But for some reason he had the urge. He couldn't describe it, could barely control it and had absolutely no explanation for Raven about the smile on his face.
Raven had sat and watched him train that morning. Watched the way his body was like a fluid art. Even through the layer of his uniform, she could see the muscles play as he stretched, jabbed and kicked. It might have been the way his lips were parted when he took in a breath, or the way the sweat made his skin glisten like fresh fruit after the rain… it might have just been that LUsT wanted to make herself known. But whatever the reason, Raven couldn't take her eyes off of him.
Robin finished his routine and announced he was going to take a shower. Raven nodded, feeling silly afterwards. It wasn't as if Robin was looking for her approval. She went to her room and found a book to take up her attention. She wasn't exactly sure how, but she managed to knock over her mirror in the process. The purple haired girl leaned down to retrieve it, but paused when she saw her reflection.
Her hair was tumbling down and the blush was out of place, but Raven saw it. She might have seen what Robin saw in her face that made him look at her the way he did. Raven looked at herself and saw the face of a woman, a woman who felt the entire spectrum of emotions that came with being Robin's girl.
Robin was emotional, sporadic, a little spastic but definitely wonderful. She hoped that maybe he dreamed of her the way she dreamed of him. She could never feel his happy dreams. Maybe he dreamed like she did, maybe he wished for wonderful things… maybe he wished for the two of them to go that next step.
Raven blushed furiously. She could see herself in the mirror and she looked ridiculous. Her face was pink, her eyes were wide and her smile was as nervous as she had ever seen. It was embarrassing that something so simple and complicated as another level of intimacy could reduce her to a giggling school girl.
Raven shook her head, her image waving in the mirror. She prepared to turn it way when a sharp spark ran through her fingers and connected with her mirror. Raven gasped and dropped it, clutching her wounded finger to her chest. She watched the mirror cautiously, waiting for another random event. Her mirror had never reacted to anything before. After a few seconds her dark power enveloped her mirror, floating it in front of her. She looked into it and saw only her reflection. Raven laughed at herself, returning the dear item to her bureau. It must be LUsT acting up… She's going to be a pain… Raven grabbed her book and left her room.
She didn't even think about the consequences of her inaction.
Robin decided to take a nap during the day, something that Raven had never heard him say before. If Robin wanted a nap, he would have one and apparently Raven had to be involved. That was how Raven found herself, sitting against the bright yellow couch: a book that was really being looked at rather than read in one hand; between the index finger and thumb of the other was a thick strand of black hair. Robin's head laid in her lap his face towards hers. If it weren't for the years of knowing Robin, she wouldn't have been able to tell if his eyes were opened or closed.
His eyes… Raven's fingers faltered in their twirling of Robin's locks. In the deep intimacy of their bond, some things remained hidden from her. She was happy about it, it just meant there were more things left for Robin to share… and if she had her way, they'd have years to unravel each other. But there was one thing she was infinitely curious about. Robin's eyes. Robin only took off his mask in the shower and as she had never been within a room of that occurrence, she had never seen him without it. When he slept, when he ate, when he sweated, when he sighed that mask was there.
If Raven didn't have the ability to look deeper, she might have seen it as a standing barrier between them. But besides the constant ache of curiosity, Robin's identity secrecy didn't bother her. He wore it so cool and it was one of the things she liked about him. He lived life cool. He could stand in the sunset and have all the colors of the universe pool around him in a mad dance, but her eyes would only be on him. The earth could throw tremors and quakes but he'd stand perfectly still. He'd rise and fall with her near the end of the world…
Cool. Powerful. Perfect. Hers.
Robin woke up and found Raven gazing down at him. He smiled at her. She smiled back. Their looks were frozen when the crash was heard.
…
It's not the mailman. Beast Boy decided. He gave the vision before him another up and down. Definitely not the mailman. He stood tall, platinum blonde hair spiked outrageously in a manner that put Robin to shame. His eyes were blue and more blue, layered in a way that the Titans had become rather familiar with. Behind him a cooling space craft could be seen. It was held mostly in shadow due to its position in front of the sun.
"I seek Koriand'r. I was told she could be found here."
The three Titans shifted eyes between each other.
"You've got the wrong address. No Corey Ander lives here. This is Titans' Tower." Beast Boy replied.
The blue eyed man, obviously alien from the complexity and color of his garb, seemed distraught. His head turned to the side; he looked for the world close to tears.
"I have searched many blorknars to reach this place. I was told I could find Koriand'r here and I came making the haste…"
Terra leaned over to Celine, who had to kneel considerably to have her ear be at Terra's mouth. "This guy sounds like Starfire."
"Yeah. His eyes are kind of like hers too. Maybe Koriand'r is Starfire." Celine agreed.
"Or Blackfire." Terra added.
It was Starfire. At least that was what the threesome in the entrance hall decided when Starfire entered the room. Starfire gasped, dropping the pudding of good wishes she had prepared for the day. She almost didn't recognize him. But when her eyes adjusted, she knew it couldn't be anyone else: not with those eyes, not with that hair, not with the proud way he stood and the empathy that poured out of him… all the things that made him Tameran's greatest living champion.
"D'ucel?"
The blonde Tameranian turned; a huge smile lit his face. "Koriand'r!" The pair flew to each other, meeting in the air. D'ucel reached out a hand and touched his princess' shoulder.
"Princess Koriand'r! I am very glad to see you."
"D'ucel… how can this be? The war…"
"It was a difficult journey… fraught with much peril. But I have survived and have come to collect my beloved bride."
Starfire grimaced. Celine and Terra's eyes widened to saucers. Beast Boy collapsed onto his mail pile, thoroughly unimpressed. He had seen something like this before. Starfire turned her head away. D'ucel's eyes tremored as he felt the uncertainty and distress flow through Starfire like water.
"My princess… where is Komand'r?"
It was as if the cosmos had aligned for the reunion that D'ucel had planned. Aqualad and Blackfire entered the tower… and D'ucel got his answer.
The End of Part Three
A/N
¹Both Celine and Sakura used the front door when they were introduced.