Alright, I made a deal with the devil, and he only agreed to give me back my soul as long as I gave everyone another chapter of Forever Titans. But I'm expecting angry reviews and PMs with people telling me that they're going to kill me for making them wait this long. So before you do, hear me out.
I was busy and going through some personal issues. I did publish this when a particular alcoholic beverage was running rampant throughout the world. Although I moved past those issues, I'm still a busy guy with bills to pay, so I didn't have enough time to finish my draft of chapter 4. As much as I love writing, hating myself for having minor writer's block, and enjoying the inspiration all of you give me, my time writing isn't a job. It would be cool to get paid something for writing fanfic on an adult Teen Titans story; unfortunately, that'll never happen.
I can't promise to be active, especially since I will be gone without internet for two months soon. However, I do want to continue writing the story. I haven't gotten bored with it; I just haven't gotten the time.
I want to thank everyone for clicking on the story during my hiatus and sending me love mail about how you enjoyed the story. Once again, I have no experience writing fanfic or novels, so it was great to see people praising me instead of telling me to jump into traffic for ruining their beloved characters (I had one person say something similar, but it's not important).
I don't want to keep you long. You waited nearly a year for another chapter of Forever Titans! Of course, I don't own Teen Titans in any way, shape, or form, but if I did, I would've made my fanfiction into a real-life comic book. Thank you, everyone, again for bearing with me, and please enjoy Chapter 4!
The Titans emerged victorious from the fight with Cinderblock. However, although they have grown stronger as a team, so have their enemies. Despite this, the Titans didn't have much difficulty defeating him. The only casualties were some blocks of business that were damaged in the fight.
The team dispersed in their own direction; Robin and Cyborg helped the police with Cinderblock, Starfire greeted fans while she waited for Robin, Beast Boy gave statements to reporters and his fangirl following, and Raven hid in the shadows watching the team. Mostly Beast Boy.
Once Cinderblock was properly detained, the Titan's work was done. Robin pushed through the news reporters as they desperately tried to pry anything out of him. Starfire and Cyborg followed behind their leader to Titan tower while the changeling continued to enjoy the positive attention coming his way.
"Beast Boy, how did it feel getting being the Titan to take Cinderblock out?" A female reporter asked, shoving her microphone into his face.
"Beast Boy, how do you feel about the new villain appearing in Jump City?!" A younger woman asked, pushing her phone near his mouth.
"Beast Boy, did you see the new polls? You're one of the top 20 teen celebrities to have one of the greatest 'glow-ups' in the nation!" Another reporter stated, placing their phone close to his lips.
"Beast Boy, you told Jump Weekly that you and pop sensation Jamie Jamye is, in fact, not dating. However, there are rumors of you having a secret relationship that you don't want anyone to know. Would you mind letting your fans know who that special someone might be?"
A hail of oohs from the crowd after the last question was asked.
Garfield just shrugged his shoulders and acted cooly towards the large audience. In the past, a crowd like this would swoop towards Robin and leave Beast Boy with the few fans that liked him as a scrawny, green changeling. Now his fanbase grew; it may not have been as big as some of his other teammates, but he was grateful for what he had now.
"Well, to tell you guys the truth, there is one girl..." Beast Boy replied slyly, his toothy grin appearing on his face.
The crowd fed into his response with a mix of squeals, other questions, and others demanding who this particular girl was. Raven, still hiding, was now further interested in what was going on. She began to wonder if she was the special girl. Raven could only hope to receive some sort of answer, whether good or bad. But, the purple-haired demoness would greatly prefer to have been the girl Garfield had on his mind.
"But, she's not important right now! What everyone needs to know is that I can't be held down! If anyone thinks they can handle the Beast Man, just give me a call!"
The crowd went wild after Garfield said this. Dozens of women grabbed and clawed at the superhero celebrity. Garfield only chuckled while trying to break free of the girls without hurting them. He could've been honest and told the reporters how it was; however, he wanted to give the media something to rave over.
While Garfield was enjoying the parade of women throwing him around like a ragdoll, Raven's heart felt as if it were stabbed hundreds of times. Maybe Garfield saw her as just a fling from the time they've spent together. Although heartbreaking, Raven didn't succumb to despair. Instead, her hands and eyes were engulfed in black glowing magic and concentrated on Beast boy. The same black glow from Raven consumed Beast boy, raising him several feet in the air to be isolated and make him helplessly gravitate towards Raven.
"Let's go, 'Beast Man'." She snarled, hiding the anger and sadness under her hood. The crowd continued yelling for Garfield as he was suspended in the air and tailed behind his goth teammate. Not wanting to disappoint his fans, he blew them kisses of sincerity and thanked them all for being supportive fans until he and Raven disappeared into Raven's portals back home.
Once the two arrived on the concrete driveway to the Tower, Raven wanted to take the long way inside alone. After the physical fight with Cinderblock and the emotional assault Beast Boy unknowingly caused her, all she wanted was peace by her loneliness. However, she couldn't have that with Garfield wrapping his toned arms around her waist and putting his body next to hers.
"Not in public." Raven retorted, bringing both hands to his side and pushing him away.
"Oh… Oh! So back to my room or yours?" Garfield responded, giving her a naughty grin.
"Neither," Raven said with bland monotone.
"Gotcha, you want to take a shower before we get down to business? We should share a shower to make things quicker… or longer…"
"Beast Boy, just leave me alone. I'm not in the mood." Raven stated, doing her best to keep a calm composure.
"Oh, come on, Rae. You always say that after a fight. But once the Beast man puts you in his hold…" Beast Boy picked Raven up from behind and lightly shook her. Usually, she would laugh and beg him to stop, but this wasn't the case.
"I said leave me alone!" Raven exclaimed, using her powers to blast Beast Boy several feet away on his ass.
"Jesus, Rae, what's your problem!" Beast Boy yelled, still laying on the pavement.
"You! You're my problem! Everything you do and say just pisses me off! Just leave me the fuck alone, you annoying prick!" Raven was so angry with her green teammate she inadvertently made the ground under her crack. All Beast Boy could do was look up at Raven with a terrified expression, hoping she wouldn't tear him limb from limb. Finally, after a brief staredown complimentary of Raven, she returned to her silent walk to the Tower, leaving Beast Boy lying down with astonishment.
"No, No, No, N- wait… No,"
Robin and Cyborg looked through the possible suspects for who this Judge villain could be. They've been at it since they returned to the Tower after their fight with Cinderblock. Cyborg presented Robin with the files on the large super-computer on the screen while Robin determined whether they could've fit the Judge's description or not. Almost instantly, Robin denied the possibility of nearly all the villains listed. Either their physical appearance gave it away, they had an alibi, or they were currently locked up. They've already looked through Jump City's criminal database multiple times; With Cyborg's help, they managed to access the Watchtower's intel. Of course, Batman would kill him once he found out, but innocent people were being murdered. Robin didn't have time to wait for approval, only to have his request become rejected.
"Robin, we need to take a break. We still have to submit the paperwork to the JCP. Besides, I don't think it's a villain; my money is on that new guy who popped up a few weeks ago. What information do we have on him?" Cyborg asked, continuing to flip through different files.
"We get new heroes coming in and out of the city all the time. Most of them see that hero work isn't cut out for them and quit a month in. That guy's no different," Robin responded, crossing his arms, "alright, from the list that we gathered of people who could be possible suspects, who did I put as the person most likely to be the Judge?"
"Uh… Abra Kadabra, Merlyn the Magician, and… Rob, once again, I gotta ask, why would the Joker be up to something like this?" Cyborg asked with a questioned expression.
"To fuck with Batman," Robin replied, annoyed he even had to answer the question. Cyborg simply shrugged and sighed, continuing to list off the few names of possible suspects.
Cyborg and Robin continued their work, not making any progress besides eliminating villains who didn't match the description. Both men were tired but overall driven to come closer to an answer. Cyborg wanted nothing more than to snack on a dozen of sloppy Joes, play video games, and work on his car for the rest of the day; however, he couldn't enjoy himself fully if this monster was still out there killing people that lived in Jump City. Victor knew that he was appreciated by Robin even if he didn't outright say it.
As they worked, the red-headed teammate appeared in the doorway. Her expression let Robin know that she wanted to spend time with him. Before he could tell Starfire to leave, he took note of her timid expressions, how she played with her hair and intertwined her fingers. Robin just sighed and relieved Cyborg of his duty, but to make sure to give an incident report to the JCP. Cyborg didn't need to be told twice. He hurried out of the room and thanked Starfire in a whispered voice.
"Kori, I know what you're gonna say, but I just need to-"
"I'm not here to stop you on your quest to find the Judge. I am here to spend the time with you even if it's not the most romantic," Starfire said while walking to her long-time boyfriend. She hugged him tight, surprising him at this sudden embrace, "you continue to work, I will sit in the rolly chair!"
Dick grinned and gave Kori an approving smile. She couldn't help him in his mission for information, but she could lift his spirits while he worked. Starfire gleefully flew over to the chair, cheering innocently as she rolled in the chair. Robin didn't laugh, but a slight chuckle did leave his mouth while watching her. While Robin continued working, Starfire continued playing with the chair, whooping and hollering while spinning around the room in her chair. While the noise didn't bother him, the sudden block from the Justice League's database did. It seemed Robin miscalculated how long he could be on the Leauge's database before he was found out. In frustration, he threw all the items near him to the wall in one swing, even taking it so far to punch a dent in the metal table he was using.
Kori watched in fear at Robin's aggression. It reminded her of how Robin acted when he was researching Slade, but it was somehow worse this time. At least with Slade, there was history, albeit a small one of the silent killer. With the Judge, the team had nothing to go off on. Once Robin was calm, Kori slowly made her wrap her arms around Robin. He sighed, profusely apologizing to the love of his life while Kori shushed him.
"You have fallen into anger. It's alright. You're upset about this because you're passionate about finding this killer. You have good in your heart, Dick. That's why you're my Gllhicovfe." Starfire stated, blushing as she looked at her soulmate.
Dick's Tamaranen wasn't great, but he knew Gllhicovfe was a name for love in the English language. Dick didn't say anything after that; for one, he didn't want to ruin the moment; Dick simply just wanted to enjoy the moment they were sharing with one another. Without hesitation, Dick pulled Starfire into a kiss which she gratefully accepted. It was a moment of raw passion that they shared. Not having a moment like this in weeks made both of them realize what they were missing.
As their kiss continued, things became more heated. Tongues battled against another, hands traveled onto the other's body, and their emotions made them want more than simple kissing. While Dick's tongue dominated Kori's mouth, she used her strength to remove most of Dick's clothing from his body. After only a few minutes of kissing, Dick was already missing his signature mask, shirt, and gloves. Kori began to giggle as Dick continued to kiss her, even running her hands against his sculpted upper body.
"No… fair…" Dick stated between kisses, "how come you're… fully dressed and… I look like I'm posing as a… nude model."
Kori giggled, imagining Dick on a magazine cover in his current attire. She separated from Dick after one last peck on his lips and a playful grab on his tight butt. Kori began to take off her short shirt and show Dick a glimpse of her breasts. Even in front of the man she loved, she led a timid expression as she covered her chest with her arm. Robin simply chuckled and walked to Kori, his strong yet delicate hands placed under her chin, and looked into her large emerald eyes.
"There's no reason to hide them, Star. It's not like I haven't seen them on multiple occasions." Dick teased, looking at a still shy Kori. Then, to settle her nerves, he pulled her into one more quick kiss, "and every time I see them, it feels like the first."
"Dick, but will you ever get bored of looking at me? My people mate for life, but the men will find prettier, younger wives once their mates go past their peak. Will… that happen with us?" Kori asked, her eyes twinkling with anticipation with Dick's answer.
"Kori, we aren't on Tamaranean; I will never leave you for any reason. My eyes are only for you and you only." Dick replied with a confident smile.
Those words were all Kori needed from Dick.
Kori removed her arm from her breasts to give Dick a beautiful sight. Like all the tabloids and lucky men who got to see Starfire in person, they said she was quite the 'gifted' woman when it came to her body. However, none of those examples has ever seen her bare naked like Robin has. Without her top, her breast was, in fact, larger than when they were out her top. Starfire's bosom had a natural sag to them, yet still perky. Her nipples were only a shade darker than her normal skin tone. Although Dick would've loved Kori no matter what size her breasts were, he always thanked the universe for giving him a girlfriend with a body like Kori's.
Nothing else was spoken before Dick and Kori embraced. Once again, they kissed with emotion that matched their love. Dick began to knead Kori's bare right chest, making her moan in his mouth while Kori made him shudder as she massaged his clothed groin. The couple needed this moment; either they were stressed from work or wanted confirmation of the other's love for them.
"Raven will be most upset that I'm late for our meditation session. Thankfully I can excuse my tardiness because of the sudden alarm from Cinderblock." Kori moaned, loving the attention Dick was giving to her breasts. She giggled began pulling Dick's pants down.
Dick began to laugh as Kori struggled with removing his green tights. He was just about to unbuckle her belt when the thought of Cinderblock ran through his head. At the worst possible moment, however, he never wondered what Cinderblock's motive was. Even though he caused tremendous damage to the bank, he targetted but didn't seem to touch the vault the money was contained in. Cinderblock should've had enough time to at least take as much cash as he could hold and attempted to make a break for it, but the monstrosity decided to wreak havoc on the streets.
As much as it pained him, Robin stopped Starfire from going further. He could see the look of despair and anguish on her face.
"Star, I'm sorry, I really am," Robin hushed, beginning to put back his clothing on, "I know it's not the right time, but I need to look into something. I promise I'll make it up to you."
Kori didn't respond; she simply put her clothes back on with a solemn expression. She knew something, whether it was Robin's obsession with the Judge, a crime alert, or even Beast Boy would interrupt their short moment of intimacy. Starfire questioned whether she should pinch herself to ensure she wasn't asleep because even getting a few moments to kiss Robin seemed impossible to do in the real world. Nothing Dick did could not make her feel like she was below the rest of his priorities as Robin.
"I promise, I'll make things right. When I get the time, all my attention will be all on you." Robin stated as he began to frantically type on the keyboard.
Starfire, already fully dressed, had begun to walk towards the door. She was too strong and used to Robin's antics to even shed a tear. All she could do was hope for a different yet positive outcome when they were alone.
"Star… I really am sorry…" Dick said, turning his head towards Kori.
"As am I," Starfire whispered, leaning at the doorway. Then, after a deep breath, Starfire left Robin to his work.
Raven and Starfire enjoyed the warm rays and light breeze on top of Titans Tower. They had such a beautiful sight of the sun setting in front of them. Their mediation session was such a peaceful environment thanks to the waves crashing against the shore, the sparse number of birds chirping in the distance, and the look of Jump City in the rare sight of serenity. The girls would levitate in unison any other day while they accessed the nirvana of their minds. Although Raven was a bit off her guard, Starfire was struggling. Raven could sense that she was in distress, not because of her empathic ability, but the constant thuds when she hit the ground and sniffled when she tried her hardest not to think about her preceding moments with Robin.
"Starfire, your emotions are out of stability. Tell me what's wrong," Raven said without even opening her eyelids, "and, don't bullshit me."
Starfire gulped at Raven's request. Raven was like Starfire's therapist; she listened to all of her problems and gave her straightforward answers but occasionally sugar-coated them depending on how severe the situation was. Despite the minor issues Starfire had with Robin and the occasional slip-ups when it came to more inappropriate moments with her and him. But, what Starfire had on her mind was a much more serious topic. Whether or not Starfire wanted to talk about it, holding it in would affect her livelihood and ability to fight with her team.
"Raven… me and Robin, haven't been the same for the last few weeks. You may know of the man or woman that identifies with the alias, The Judge, correct?"
Raven nodded, still in her mediation state.
"This obsession with that person is making Robin, our relationship weak. I fear he will become an even greater fixation on the new villain more than Slade. I have no objection to Robin's work finding this Judge, but I fear that Robin will push me away even further than already. I don't want us to grow apart, or worse… separate. I- I- I just fear that I'm only strong enough to fight villains and not my own emotions." *Starfire couldn't hold in her true feelings for much longer. The red-headed princess began to tremble and cry into her hands.
"Star… Star…Starfire, stop it, you know how I feel about cryi- Starfire!" Raven snapped, finally revealing her purple-colored pupils. No matter how hard Raven tried, she couldn't stop her best friend from crying. However, Raven still had a kind side despite her hard exterior. A kind side only Starfire was lucky enough to witness every now and again. The pale demoness quickly dropped to the floor next to Starfire and wrapped her arms around her crying friend, "Kori, don't be too hard on yourself. There's nothing wrong with how you feel. Fighting them isn't a solution; I should know. You can't punch your feelings, nor can you hold them in. It's gonna eat you alive, Star. You need to be honest with Robin.
Raven continued holding Starfire in her arms. She knew her uniform would be stained with Starfire's tears, but Raven didn't care. In a way, her problem reflected her own; a boy who only pays attention to her lover when convenient to him. Raven knew what she was saying was quite hypocritical. She wasn't brave enough to talk about her true feelings about Beast Boy with anyone. In Starfire's circumstance, she had more reason to speak with Robin than Raven to Beast Boy; in Raven's mind, Beast Boy only saw her as a girl he could fake and keep secret.
"Robin loves you. He just takes his job seriously. Sometimes, his work ethic is a bit too much for us to understand, but it does save lives. We all sacrificed so much to be heroes. Don't expect me to tell you this sort of stuff in the future, but I can tell you right now that Robin is hurting. It's a pain from love, Star. He regrets turning you away but knows he's done wrong, but can't let his personal life get in the way from potentially saving people." Raven stated.
"He- He does?" Starfire asked in a low, shrinking tone. Raven gave Starfire a slight yet reassuring grin in response, "Can you tell me if he-"
"I already said too much, Star. Telling you this was a complete breach of Robin's privacy. I don't even like using it when wanting to know how Beaaaa-best friends... are... doing." Raven replied, wide-eyed at what she just said. Fortunately for her, Starfire didn't pick up the anomaly.
Starfire nodded, feeling much better now that she got to talk with her most trusted friend. She wiped the tears from her eyes and let out a relieved exhale. She didn't feel 100%, but she indeed felt better than before. Starfire hugged Raven tightly, almost with enough strength to break her gothic friend in half and make her yelp in discomfort.
"Thank you for helping me with my problems as always, friend Raven. I also want to apologize for the mess I made on your cloak." Starfire said.
"Don't worry about it," Raven replied in a grainy tone. She had a look of disgust as she held the part of her cloak away from her. She loved Starfire, but not enough to be comfortable with her tears and snot pressing against her body, "we wasted enough time already. Let's just get back to our meditation. No more drama, no more talking, no more distrac-"
BOOM
Starfire and Raven couldn't distinguish whether the loud crash or the earthquake came first. They were so off-guard they didn't even notice the foreign object flying towards Titans Island. Near the rocky shore, they could see a small crater and smoke in the distance. Without so much as a second thought, the female Titans rushed over to investigate the site of the crash.
"What happen! Why the hell weren't you guys answering your communicators!?" Robin yelled, only half a mile away from the crater.
Robin ran the lengthy distance from Titan's Tower after the incident; he tried to call everyone to see the incident, but there was no answer. His heart began to race, hoping that whatever made the loud noise didn't harm his team. As he ran closer to the crater, he was relieved that all four members were safe and surrounding the giant hole in the ground, but still pissed. He continued yelling until he came closer and saw the looks on their faces.
Fear. Confusion. Bewilderment. Anger.
All four of those expressions were mixed together onto the faces of his team. Seeing this only made him worry and run even faster towards whatever the hell was in that hole. The mystery of what was in this crater that the Titans were so worried about frightened him. Was he going to see a monstrous alien? An injured honorary Titan laying in that hole? Another dead Robin? Every bad raced into his head at once.
'Please, Bruce, don't be in that hole! Don't do this to me! Not now!' Robin thought, only a few more feet from seeing whatever was inside of the crater.
"Rob, I think you should…" Cyborg tried to stop the determined leader from going too close to the site, but was pushed away almost easily by Robin.
Once he arrived at the edge, he focused his eyes directly on whatever was in the crater. It took only a few seconds to realize what he was seeing. His mouth flew open, and his eyes widened in shock. He didn't know what to say or how to react.
Robin looked at Starfire on her knees near the edge and gulped. She had the same expression as everyone else, but somehow worse. Could they really be back after all these years? How did they even get here, and why? What happened to them?
All five Titans couldn't take their eyes off her.
The firstborn of the Emporer and Empress of Tamaren was bloodied, bruised, and passed out in the crater's center.
Blackfire was now back on Earth to the surprise and dismay of every Titan standing above her.
