This is another intro chapter, more information of Iqbal and Slade in this one, hope you enjoy, BB and Guardian get to talk
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or anything else in this story
Northern Pakistan
Day I
"Guardian, are you sure its okay to fly through all these foreign countries?" Darkness asked as they flew to Guardian's childhood home. Guardian had planned to take Darkness there on day one, then take her to the watchtower, and on the final day he planned on taking her to Maryam.
"The Justice League flies through countries all the time, nothing ever happens!" Guardian yelled with a smile.
"They have an identification card so no one panics! We are the equivalent to UFOs on the radars! I mean Nigeria sent two jets after us!" Darkness yelled back.
Guardian just laughed before beginning his decent, "We are here," he said cheerfully.
"Where is here?" Darkness asked, she hadn't been told where she was going, it was supposed to be a surprise.
"Home, my home, the place where I was born," Guardian said as he gazed at the high mountains and the dry forests all over them.
"So, where are we going to stay?" Darkness asked. She was fascinated to see exactly how Guardian was raised.
"My ancestral village, members of my family have been buried there for centuries," Guardian said as he began hovering again.
"Alright, let's get going then," Darkness said following Guardian who was floating up a mountain.
Suddenly as they floated they heard something, the sound of a hovering helicopter. "Is someone coming to us?" Darkness asked in slight fear, she had never been to this part of the world and didn't know what to expect.
Guardian stopped with Darkness and said after a brief thought, "Must be a helicopter, they must have detected us," he said.
"Who are they?" Darkness asked in fear as the helicopter sounded like it would appear over the mountain any minute.
"If it's the police, be ready to pay a bribe, the ISI, get ready to fight, if it's the army, then we are okay," Guardian said as the helicopter finally appeared over the mountain. It was heading right to the two Titans.
"So, who are they?" Darkness asked.
"Don't know, just raise your hands," Guardian said as he floated back to the ground, Darkness right behind him, both raising their hands in surrender.
The helicopter came and landed, letting up dust, forcing the two Titans to cover their face.
Out of the helicopter jumped off five men, all in khaki military outfits. Four of them had assault rifles while the officer had a pistol, the men had blue berets on their heads and all looked very tough. Two had thick black moustaches, two with beards, while the officer had a long black beard. The helicopter took off and left while the five soldiers advanced menacingly.
Darkness was terrified, not knowing whether to attack, to resist, or just to surrender, "Maybe if Guardian told me what to expect I wouldn't be this nervous," she thought angrily.
Guardian however didn't seemed to phased, he looked at the men and asked in English, "I am a citizen, my name is Selim Khan."
The officer looked at the two strangely dressed foreigners strangely, then the name clicked in his head and the officer gave a huge smile, "Selim! Selim brother is it really you?" he asked.
Guardian took off his mask and asked, "Aslam? Is that you?" he responded.
"Yes you stupid ogre now give your elder cousin a hug!" the officer said as he ran up to Guardian giving him a bear hug.
"Aslam, you are in the army?" asked Guardian. The four soldiers and Darkness looked on in silence at the strange reunion going on in front of them.
FIVE HOURS LATTER
GUARDIAN'S VILLAGE
ASLAM'S HOUSE
Despite Guardian's protests at being babied for by his elder cousin, Aslam forced him and Darkness to come and stay at his house for the night.
Darkness was taken back by the house when she arrived. Lieutenant Aslam Khan had a cook, butler, a wife, and a daughter, he had a great setup. The house itself was modest, a living room, a dinning room, and three bedrooms, a bathroom in each one.
"Aslam brother, what a beautiful daughter you have," Guardian said as he held the six month old baby in his lap. Guardian was sitting next to Darkness on a couch in the living room while Aslam and his wife, Nadia, sat on another couch.
"Yes, she takes after her mother," Aslam said as he smiled at his wife. Nadia blushed a little at the comment.
"You know Darkness, when I would visit here with my uncle and aunt, we would always stay at Nadia's house, she lived right next door to Aslam's parents house," Guardian explained.
"Yes, what great times the five of us used to have," Nadia said giving Guardian a wink.
"Five of you?" Darkness asked out of curiosity.
"Oh yes, me, my sister Jehan, Aslam, Selim, or should I say Guardian, and of course Omar," Nadia explained.
"Those games were always the same, Selim the noble soldier, slaying me the evil Indian only to rescue Jehan, who he liked and had a crush on," Aslam said with a smirk.
Guardian laughed a little nervously, "No I didn't," he responded.
"Don't lie, how come you never saved me or Omar? Why did you only dance with her at the weddings?" Nadia asked.
"Oh just a coincidence," Guardian shrugged it off.
"Sure, anyways, what is your relationship with this girl Darkness," Nadia asked.
"She is my, my, w- friend, a teammate," Guardian answered.
Darkness gave Guardian a cold glare, "So he is ashamed of me," she thought in slight anger and sadness.
After a very enjoyable evening, in which Aslam and his wife told Darkness of all Guardian's childhood stories and pranks, Guardian and Darkness were led to their room. "I setup a mattress for you to sleep on the floor Selim, Darkness may sleep on the bed," Nadia said before saying goodnight and going to her own room.
"You have a great family," Darkness said after Guardian left the bathroom in his traditional village outfit. Darkness had never seen Guardian wear anything remotely comfortable until that moment.
"Thank you, they are amazing, all of them except Iqbal of course," Guardian said.
"Of course, too bad I am not good enough to actually join your family," Darkness said before she herself went towards the bathroom.
Guardian reacted quickly and grabbed her arm, "What does that mean, you're my wife, you're my true love," Guardian said as he lifted his finger showing the ring that bonded them.
"Don't lie to me Selim Khan, don't you dare lie, for God sakes you called me your friend and teammate! Why didn't you tell them the truth? Why didn't you tell them I am your wife and am related to them," Darkness said.
Guardian lifted his finger to silence her and said, "Don't be so loud. There is a reason I didn't tell them. You see being in a large family means rumors get spread and wings of the family will bring down other wings for their own reasons. Another thing is it is well known I gave my aunt and uncle a baby, of course I told them it wasn't my child. But if I go to Aslam and introduce a wife, an American wife, then my story, although true, loses legitimacy. My family could just say America changed me, Jump City changed me, my family would say I lied; they would say you are the mother while I am the father. My aunt and uncle would be humiliated. Sorry, but I can't risk their honor, not even for you," Guardian explained slowly.
Darkness looked at Guardian unsure on what to say, "Why didn't you ever tell me this, why didn't you tell me this before we came? Do you know how humiliated I felt how hurt I felt when you said that," Darkness said.
"I know, I know, and I am sorry Darkness. Don't worry, this was a good evening, you had a good time, didn't you?" Guardian asked her kindly.
"I did, but I still feel hurt," Darkness replied in a hurt voice. Guardian gave her a small comforting hug.
"I know, I am sorry for that, I never intended to make you feel so low, but just take a shower and go to bed, I will be back soon," Guardian told her as he slowly went to the door.
Now Darkness gave him a suspicious look, "Where are you going?" she asked.
"I have to ask Aslam some questions," Guardian replied coolly.
"Don't lie to a telepath, I can sense it, this has to do with your never ending research and work doesn't it?" Darkness accused.
"Yes it does. I wasn't lying to you, I just finished reading those journals and was asking if he found the missing pages I was looking for," Guardian told her, slightly upset at her accusing tone. He had finished reading Iqbal's and Iqbal's father's journals, they were very enlightening but several key pages were missing.
"So you didn't come here for me, you came for the pages," Darkness said bitterly.
"What is wrong with you? Are you still jealous about Jehan?" Guardian asked her.
"No," Darkness replied, "I don't get jealous over something so small, I am just upset that my husband has to bring his research and work everywhere he goes, even on vacation," she continued.
"I can't take this anymore, I have to go," Guardian said as he left.
"When you leave the room, check your ring," Darkness said before Guardian shut the door behind him. Guardian paused for a second but then left, closing the door.
Darkness then did something she never thought she would do, she went to the bed and began crying herself to sleep. "He just ruins anything good, any good day I have he manages to ruin it," she thought.
Guardian as he left to Aslam's room did check his ring and was surprised to see how loose it was now. "Is it worth it?" he thought to himself.
DAY II
WATCHTOWER
They had left at dawn, giving their hosts goodbye hugs and kisses. They then went straight to the Watchtower in silence. It had been a hard night on Guardian, when he had returned to the room, with the pages, he forced himself to sleep despite the sobs he heard from the bed. The next morning was also bad, when they left Darkness's eyes were very red and Nadia had taken her aside to talk with her. Aslam had given Guardian a suspicious look but didn't ask anything.
They arrived to the Watchtower in silence; Darkness led Guardian to her house, her parent's apartment. A few heroes said hi to Guardian and Darkness, but the two heroes quickly moved there way to the apartment. Still in silence they rang the doorbell. Beast Boy answered it.
"Hey, seems like my daughter and her man decided to finally pay me a visit," Beast Boy said with a big smile.
"Hello Dad," Darkness replied.
"Hello Mr. Logan," Guardian replied formally.
Beast Boy snorted, "Don't call me Mr. Logan, call me Beast Boy," the elder hero said.
"Where's Mom Dad?" Darkness asked quickly.
"She took the kids to the play area downstairs. How about you go hangout with her and the kids, me and your husband have a lot to discuss!" Beast Boy said with a jolly smile.
"How does someone smile like that all the time?" Guardian thought.
"Alright Dad, see you two later I guess," Darkness said as she left the two of them alone.
"Come inside, its better than out hear, Aqualad or Superman might eavesdrop," Beast Boy said with a smirk as he led Guardian to the living room. Beast Boy took a seat on a couch while Guardian took a seat across from him.
"You want anything to drink?" Beast Boy asked, his personality disabled any tension between the two, between the in-laws.
"No thanks, I am fine," Guardian said as Beast Boy poured himself a cup of juice and sat back down and took a small sip.
"You know Guardian; I never thought when I held Christine in my arms I never thought almost fifteen years latter she would be married. I expected she would get married in her twenties, maybe in her thirties, never at the same age as me and Raven. Nor did I think I wouldn't be at the wedding, nor did I think a madman would kidnap my wife and try to force my daughter to get married," Beast Boy said.
"Life is full of surprises," Guardian observed.
"That is so very true, anyways, enough of me babbling, tell me about Iqbal, I want to know about the madman," Beast Boy said.
Guardian face turned very serious, "I thought Iqbal was crazy too, until I came across his journal and his father's journal. I put myself in his shoes and saw he really wasn't mad at all, imagine, he grew up in a house full of pain. Iqbal's mother knew of his father's love towards my mother, she knew and it killed her. Although Iqbal's father tried, he tried very hard, he could never let go of my mother and this devastated Iqbal's mother. Iqbal would often write in his journal of many nights where his mother wouldn't go to the bedroom, she would just go to sleep in a guestroom and cry, this is what Iqbal saw as a child. A grieving mother and a depressed father," Guardian began explaining.
"So Iqbal's dad loved your mother and Iqbal's wife knew this, which just depressed Iqbal's father and mother?" Beast Boy asked.
"Yes, I read in Iqbal's journal when his mother go sick and died, he said something on the lines of, his mother didn't die because of the disease, she died because she lost the will to live. With that thought Iqbal thought I was responsible for her death, for the fact he never felt he got his father's complete love," Guardian said.
"Why blame you? Why not your parents?" Beast Boy asked.
"My parents were dead, I was all that remained, I carry there blood, to Iqbal, if he ruins my life, he ruins there life, by hurting me he thinks and hopes he tells me exactly how much pain he himself went through," Guardian said.
"Very interesting, didn't think of it like that, so that's why he tried to marry Darkness, to hurt you, take your true love, get his revenge," Beast Boy responded.
Guardian shook his head, "No, I didn't know she was my true love at the time, neither did he. What he was doing was for himself; his father lost on his first love and paid the ultimate price as a result, so Iqbal became desperate to not make that mistake. Darkness was his first true love, he didn't want to make the mistake, so that's why he tried to marry her," Guardian explained.
"Your research reminds me of how Raven, me, and Batman studied Slade. You know what happened to Raven, I know you know," Beast Boy said.
"Yeah, I know," Guardian replied, he was now feeling tense. This was a very sensitive issue he knew.
"Well Batman never believed it was Robin's fault at all, neither did I, but understandably Raven didn't agree. However, she wanted answers, she wanted to know everything so we tore apart Jump City, found Slade's journals, found Robin's journal, even took samples of Robin's body," Beast Boy said.
"What did you find?" Guardian asked.
"Robin was not to blame, Robin had died the minute Slade captured him and began implementing his plan. Slade literally replaced Robin's thoughts and added a device in Robin's brain that made Robin carry out these orders. The Robin we knew was simply locked up with very limited control, his body became a weapon, his body was Slade's weapon, not Robin himself. The next question was why Slade did it, why did he do this to Raven," Beast Boy said becoming more emotional.
"Why? What did you find?" Guardian asked out of curiosity.
"When Raven's father Trigon tied to rule the world he had recruited Slade. Although Slade had no flesh, which is why he betrayed Trigon, he had immortality, which he didn't factor in on his decision; you see Slade always was an immortal, his whole life. As a result of betraying, when Trigon was defeated and Slade got his flesh back but he became mortal. Keep in mind he had always been immortal. Although we had nothing to do with his lost immortality or the tumor that developed in his brain Slade blamed us, more specifically he blamed Raven, he thought it was Raven's fault. He thought Raven knew and had made sure he lost is immortality, so, with only a few months to live Slade decided to capture his archenemy, Robin, and use him to destroy Raven, break her, not kill her," Beast Boy explained.
"So he killed Robin as a person, but didn't kill the body and used that body to break Raven?" Guardian asked.
"Pretty much," Beast Boy said sadly as he took another sip from his drink. The two men sat there in silence for several minutes.
Kind of boring chapter, but necessary, next chapter will be great, this was another setup type chapter, hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to:
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