Hi all! Thanks for coming back. Just for that, I'm giving you a treat. Yep. I'm giving you a cookie!
Semine: You know, you can't give a person a cookie through the Internet.
Kali: I can if it's a cyber cookie!
Semine: You mean a computer cookie.
Kali: Yeah.
Semine: But you can't. Not in the sense of a pastry. When it comes to a computer, a cookie takes on a whole new meaning.
Kali: Oh. I get it. It's one of those words with the dual meaning. Like Foamy the squirrel and foamy the adjective.
Semine: No. Foamy is the name of the squirrel. Not another meaning.
Kali: I'm still confused, but it's okay, because I have to start typing my fic.
Semine: Yes. You shall commence the writing of this fanfic now.
Kali: Hai!
Robin awoke again, sweating from Rhea's horrid nightmare. Robin went to the kitchen for tea, and maybe another talk with Rhea. Tea seemed good right now. No herbal crap, just black tea with a bit of sugar.
As he approached the kitchen, a soft voice wavered through the halls, singing.
"Little bird, little bird.
What are you thinking?
Little bird, little bird.
You know I'm true
Little bird, little bird.
My world is sinking.
Little bird, little bird.
And yet we're not through.
We'll be together forever.
I'll never leave your side.
Holding you forever.
Overflowing with pride."
That song brought up memories for Robin. Happy memories, but painful ones.
Robin had been surprised when the swallow had first chirped at him. He searched the room quickly, finding the bird. It was so small. And wounded. The swallow had a broken wing. The poor thing…
Robin held the shivering bird to his chest as he walked to the bathroom and rummaged around for the first aid kit and a book on veterinary practices. He made a shoddy splint for the wing, but it held. Robin looked down at the swallow, which looked back innocently. It opened its tiny beak and chirped loudly. Robin laughed and covered his ears.
About a week later, the swallow flew to Robin as he entered his room. At first, Robin smiled, happy the bird was okay. But then he realized that the bird would leave. So he opened his window before he crawled into bed.
When he woke up the next morning at dawn, it was not because of habit. The swallow had woken up, and decided that Robin should be awake too. The bird was sitting on his chest, cheeping loudly.
Robin was overjoyed. This meant the bird would stay! He now had a pet. Robin searched his head for names. Leslie… Carol… Alex(a)…Those names were too common. Maybe… Gretchen. Gretchen was a cool name. Robin asked the bird her opinion. She cheeped back.
From then on, wherever Robin was, so was Gretchen. In the dojo, she cheeped in applause when he hacked away at battle droids. At breakfast, she sat on the edge of his plate, nibbling at scraps. She even tried to play on the PS2, but she was too light to move the analog stick, and didn't quite understand the games. But her attempts were amusing.
And one night, she went along with the Titans to fight a bank robber. She stayed out of the way mostly. Until Robin was locked in melee with one robber, and another was aiming a gun at him. She flew at Robin, cheeping loudly in distress. Robin moved out of the way of the bullet, smiling briefly at Gretchen. But he turned back to his fight, not noticing that the bullet with his name on it had struck her.
When the robbers were in the police car, their weapons confiscated, he looked around for Gretchen. He saw her small body on the marble floor, looking so pale and tiny. Robin ran to her stiff body, and tried to resuscitate her, but she had a hole through her. Robin's mind slipped off into a numb despair, remembering the swallow.
Later that day, he stood by the sea, a small shoebox in hand. He sung Gretchen's lullaby to her corpse, and threw the box to the sea, her body inside. Robin turned around and went back into the Tower.
Robin shook himself out of dreams and walked into the kitchen, half expecting a ghost bird to be sitting at the counter, and for this to be another dream. No one else knew that song anyway, except for Gretchen. But he saw Rhea standing with her back to him, holding her necklace up to the air, singing.
In front of her was a hologram coming from the necklace. There stood a pale woman with purple hair holding a small boy in one arm and a man, her husband according to the wedding bands on their hands, with the other. The little boy was looking at something off screen in awe and wonder, while the husband and wife looked lovingly to where the camera would be.
Rhea spoke to the picture, her voice heavy with tears. "Mom, Dad. I'm sorry. I'm coming for you. I love you." Rhea sobbed once, a light bulb broke, and she started to make tea.
Robin thought this might be a good time to make his presence known. He walked into the kitchen, groaning slightly from lack of sleep.
"Hi. Did you like that hologram of my family?" Robin stared at Rhea.
"That was your family?" Robin choked out. The parents looked very familiar. Robin was hit with a disgusting thought. Were they… Him and Raven? That couldn't be. Raven couldn't love, or Trigon would use that as a way to overcome her will and get her to summon him. And anyway, he had no chance with Raven.
Where had that come from?
"Well, anyway, I'm turning in for the night. I've got a speech to prepare." Rhea started to walk toward Raven's room.
"A speech?" Robin asked, feeling stupid and out of the loop.
"Yep. You'll hear it soon. I hope you like it." And with that, Rhea entered Raven's room, letting in some of the light from the hall spill in, earning a pained groan from Raven.
"Good morning friends! What shall we do on this fine morn?" Starfire chirped three hours later.
Raven mumbled something vulgar at Star, and then spoke so all could hear. "Be quiet. Someone kept me up all night with her wacky dreams," Raven said with a pointed stare at Rhea.
"Hey, it's not my fault! You're the one who—" Rhea was cut off by a black helmet of energy surrounding her head, drowning out all sound. The Titans weren't sure, but they might have heard the words 'Robin' and 'bang.' When Rhea's head was released, she glared at Raven. "Was that really necessary? They're going to find out today anyway. Or do you want me to not save your hide?"
"You will never save my hide."
"I will when you're forty one, if I have anything to say about it."
"Hmph." Raven looked at the rest of the Titans, who were staring at them as if they were playing tennis. "Tell them after lunch. They're too sleepy now."
"Okay!" Rhea turned to Beast Boy and Cyborg. "I play first, and dibbies on the elf!" Cries of "Awww! No fair!" were heard.
Raven grabbed her book and walked to her armchair to read. Before heading to watch the game with Star, Robin walked over to Raven.
"Is everything okay?" he asked softly.
"Of course," she lied. Rhea looked over from the couch and stuck out her tongue. Raven growled. "I should be asking the same of you. You don't look like you've gotten much sleep."
"Well, our friend Rhea has decided she needs to share her anxiety dreams with me."
Raven winced. "You too? I've been jumping out of my skin every time I see my candles light up."
Robin laughed. "I hear you. And I've been looking into that kumari thing. Nothing has come up. It's like it came out of nowhere."
"It was one of the major exports of Azerath and neighboring planets, but the Federation of Civilizations banned it with the discovery of its effect on Tamoranians. It can also be ground into a hallucinogen, and is often found on the intergalactic black market." Raven said offhandedly.
"So it's alien crack."
"In the vulgar tounge you Earthlings use."
The rest of the morning continued in the same way. Raven would read, while the other Titans took turns watching and playing the PS2. Lunch rolled around, and Beast Boy served up a chili with textured vegetable protein. Cyborg did not notice the difference.
Lunch was finished, and the Titans sat on the couch as Rhea perched on the coffee table like she had the first night.
"I have a story to tell you, and it will take a long while. I want no interruptions, and I want you guys to keep an open mind about everything. I will take questions at the end."
Beast Boy raised his hand and said, "Can I go to the bathroom first?"
Rhea and Raven both said, "No."
"You guys will continue fighting crime until you are in your twenties, when a new set of Titans comes to let you guys have a break. Raven gets married. At twenty-six, Raven gets pregnant, with me. Shut up, I'm not done. It was then that Trigon decided to make his move. Raven had a boost in power, and now had a huge weakness, me. So he made his cult, which had been relatively quiet up till then, make noise. They summoned some of the lesser demons, using them to destroy the world and Raven's psyche. Eventually, the Titans come up with a plan that could very well kill Trigon, forever.
"Most of the humans, along with the libraries, hospitals, and as many materials as could be transported were moved to Raven's special project, New Azerath. Money had been siphoned off for thirteen years to the planet, which was now rebuilt and populated. The only thing left to do was summon Trigon and destroy Earth, and the demon with it.
"Raven had the new boost of power, which Trigon had been counting on. This had all fit into his plan, you see. But what he did not expect was a boost in will power along with it. Raven had gotten the new power from me, and I had a will of my own. So Raven was able to resist Trigon's command, and destroyed the Earth, retreating to Azerath with the Titans at the last second.
"But Trigon didn't die. He also had evaded the blast, and hid on Mars for twelve years. During that time, I was raised on Azerath, and the planet flourished. The capital city was formed, along with the Azerath Academy. The Tamoranians made a Free Trade Agreement with its neighbor Azerath, and many immigrants came from the other planet. Tamoranian became the second language of Azerath.
"On my thirteenth birthday, Raven's thirty-ninth, Trigon resurfaced, and took the less populated southern hemisphere of Azerath. A civil war broke out on Tameran. Soon the scourge of Trigon had made it all the way to the walls of the capital city. Only specialized clerics kept the demonic forces at bay. It soon became evident that the Titans would have to take up their uniforms again and infiltrate the citadel of Trigon and kill him once and for all. That was the last seen of them, two years ago.
"I decided that I needed to save them. I researched Raven's books, looking for a way to cross time and space to get the only help I could think of. You guys. I want you guys to come back with me to the year 15 A.E., and bring salvation to your people. The Tamoranians solved their war, and now all we need to do is go in there and save the Titans, so war plans can be made. With luck, Trigon will be dead before the year is out. So what do you say? Are you with me?"
The Titans stared at Rhea for a good long moment, blinking in unison. Starfire was the first to speak.
"Who is it that fathered you?" she asked slowly. "You have not the hair of green, nor can you be of robotic decent. And you spoke as if your parent were a Titan…"
Rhea looked to Raven, who stared back, then Robin, who blushed, but made no move to stop her from speaking. "Boy Wonder here. The hair and fighting skills were a slight clue. So Mom, all those fantasies about banging Robin up are finally going to come true." The bubble of dark energy came a tad too late. Raven's face was burning up.
Starfire seemed to be suppressing a tic. Beast Boy spoke up. "You didn't mention Terra."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry I forgot. She was revived shortly after your eighteenth birthday," Rhea said smiling. Beast Boy visibly brightened. "Anything else?"
"When do we go back to Azerath?" Raven said.
"Wait! We haven't even decided if we're going to help her! And now you're just going out and practically selling our souls to her?" Robin looked like a bureaucrat having a heart attack.
Raven stared at Robin. "This is my planet we're talking about. This is my family. This is my father we're talking about. I don't care if you guys don't want to come, I am. I have kids to worry about. Beast Boy does too. I want to protect the survivors of Earth, the Tamoranians, and my family from Trigon. If you don't like it, then stay. I'm sure the city needs you to help some kitten out of a tree." Raven addressed Rhea again. "What will we need to do to prepare for the time travel?"
"I need you to help with a ritual. A basic one used to imbue power and essence into a talisman and a ward around it to keep anything from the future from leaving the Tower. And a few days worth of clothes."
"What's this about my kids?" Beast Boy said.
"Twins." Rhea grabbed Raven and went to her room to grab materials for the ritual. Starfire came out of her trance and started to help. By the time dinner rolled around, the couch had been moved to allow a large chalk circle with a star in the middle and candles at each star point. Herbs had been scattered around each candle, and Rhea took off her necklace and placed in the center of the circle. Cyborg helped with some of the technological aspects of the necklace, and the science of ripping reality-fabric. Beast Boy helped in his own unique way (getting in the way) and made a small dinner.
The clock chimed eleven, and the setup was finished. Rhea walked into the circle, careful to not disturb the chalk or herbs, and fiddled with her necklace. It started to glow, and the candles lit of their own accord. Rhea and Raven chanted, black energy flowing from their bodies to the circle, flowing over the chalk and made small symbols in the floor as it made it's way to the necklace. Starfire joined hands with the two girls, and green energy started to flow as well, at a slower pace. Beast Boy and Cyborg added what little power they had, as silver lined the symbols and a deeper green life force cut into the floor. Robin was last to join in, but his chi was nearly as quick along the lines as Raven and Rhea's. After countless minutes of chanting, the essence stopped its flow to the necklace, and pooled in the symbols. The Titans stopped, and waited expectantly.
The necklace rose, the ring widening and the birds in it flying out of it. They rose, and then dived, their paths crossing. At the point where the paths crossed, the ring sat, widening the opening through time and space. Eventually, a portal stood in the Titan's Tower, showing a dark temple in ruins, with dead vines crawling along the floor, and fire burning the land outside.
"That," Rhea said proudly, "is the temple of Bellar, one of the last magical places that retained its aura of good. The demons can't come in. Let's go."
Disclaimer: I don't own the PS2. I own a PS2, but not the PS2. I don't own the Titans. I own Gretchen and the song. (I made it up. Yes it sucks, but you can't say a damn thing about it. Hah!) And Rhea, but not the Titans. No matter how much I want to at least know Raven. I also do not own the Federation of Civilizations. It is a creation of Robert Heinlen's, may he rest in peace. I don't own Semine.
Another note, textured vegetable protein is a cool substance and substitute for ground beef. When in a chili, it soaks up flavor and water. I like it.
Another-Another note, I got more info on the atheme. That is the correct spelling of it. My buddie Senex Cowan gave me the info. Athemes are ceremonial daggers used in some branches of white magic. Once blood gets on it, it is useless as a tool of white magic, but can be used as a carafin (sp?) in the less bright magics. But our friend Trigon is allowed to use it, seeing as he has little interest in the white magic aspect of it.
Am I the only one who thinks this is becoming less mystery romance and more angst? I hope I am. I'll try to bring in some humor. I just wanted to develop the characters and make absolute sure you guys knew the huge secret this rides on. And if you didn't know the secret by now, you are ten times thicker than the Titans combined. And with Beast Boy skewing the data, that's saying something. But you had better know now. I just explained it! You should have paid attention!
I don't know the healing time of a swallow. (African or European? I don't know. Whoaaaaaaa!) But this swallow was a mutant, and healed in a week. If anyone knows, I would be greatly appreciative if that information were to appear in my reviews. Arigato!
Props. They were promised. I shall do them from the beginning, and if youreviewed more than once,I'm going to compress them into one. Nya.
First, I would like to say: Thank you all of you. I feel so happy I have eighteen reviews. I know it's small, but this is my brainchild. I love her…
Shock to ya system: I am sorry to say, but yes, this is Rob Rae. I am flattered that you came back, seeing as the pairings are kinda obvious. But thanks still!
Semine: Meep. Meepmipmeep. Titantitantitan? Titantitantitantitan. Your support throughout the fic has been greatly appreciated, along with your beta work, and your consent to my using you for a cheap laugh and as my voice of reason.
Angie: I hope you keep reading! Thank you for the compliment. I feel so warm and fuzzy now…
Teen Titans 13579: Short and sweet. I like. Thanks for your review, and I hope you are still reading and enjoying this.
Fat Cat 11388: Thanks for disregarding the whole typo thingie. I didn't have Terra in mind when I created Rhea. She just seemed too powerful, and I decided that since she didn't grow up with the looming threat of Trigon suffocating her as much, she has less concentration. And an attention iss—ohh wazzat?
Vinnie: Yes. School has affected me way too much. I shall continue to be amused. (note to all those confused, I read a letter from Raven Roth, and liked/reviewed it. It rocked, and you should all read it! I like shameless plugs.) I wasn't aware that the filler was an original take on RobRae. I should pay more attention to what I write… I like that song, too. It's the only song of Jim's Big Ego that I can sing without sounding like some fake.
Senex Cowan: The Titans are kinda thick, but it's necisarry for the plot. Humans have this tendency to not believe something given evidence until another human confirms it. Thanks for the info on Athemes.
…: Hmmm… The name is odd, I'll grant you. But original! I have a friend who signs her email like that…
Robin Fan: Hai! She went back in time! See above chapter. The time machine remark made it painfully obvious, but it was technically wrong. It was only half machine, half magic, and a hint of sewing. What kind of thread do you use on reality fabric? Imagination? Or a thread of stories?
Golrinth—It'll come up later! Honest! And so will Gea!
