(A/N: Oh, shit, this is chapter fifteen and… oh, man… it just feels so surreal and almost sobering. I've gone through so many milestones with my stories, including this one, and I just feel so proud of these accomplishments. I literally feel like I'm about to cry.
As you guys know, they're done with Soron after this chapter, although it is likely to be mentioned or referred to in future chapters. I know this "side-trip" isn't what people really expected, but I did it just to give people a better insight into what XL's life was before it was turned upside down.
*0*~*0*~X-Y-X~*0*~*0*
XL continued to lead them through the halls of the building. Beast Boy wouldn't stop ranting about him biting him and defacing the corpse. He just shook his head and continued to replay the songs from his music player in his head in order to block his voice. He figured he must have gone through half of his songs by that point.
It was otherwise completely silent until it was broken by Robin. "Do you even know where you're going?" he asked.
They all knew that he had never been this far down before, he wondered why he even bothered to ask. He figured it was probably out of habit or perhaps he was just tired of all the silence, if he could ignore Beast Boy's rants that is.
"You already know I have never been down here, why do you ask?" he inquired.
"Just force of habit, I guess," he replied.
He shrugged, "I used to have a habit of biting my nails. I stopped when I accidentally bit a little too hard into my finger and it got infected."
"Do you also have a habit of biting people?!" Beast Boy shouted, pointing at bruises on his ankle that were in the shape of XL's bite pattern.
He rolled his head in annoyance, "Will you get over it? I didn't bite deep enough into your skin to cause bleeding. If I had you would be dead."
"Good thing he was a shark, then. They have tough skin," Ben commented.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and held his arms out to stop them. His legs were rigid, as if he was afraid or cautious of continuing forward.
"What's wrong? Why are we stopping?" Robin questioned.
He responded by spitting on the floor. Red security lasers then appeared and gave the smooth walls a red glow. The closest laser to them was just a millimeter from his foot, he retracted it when he saw that just to be safe.
He pointed up at the ceiling, "If we trip one of those, security drones will come out of the ceiling and slaughter us like sheep."
"Can't you shut them down?" Ben asked.
He shook his head, "I don't know how. Even if I did I wouldn't be able to. I would need an identification card in order to do that."
Beast Boy smiled flippantly, "No problem, I'll just turn into a fly and-"
"That won't work," XL interjected with a sigh.
"Why not?" he asked.
He pointed down the hall where there was a door at the end, "See that door? You have to get into that room to shut them down and the only way to do that is with my DNA and, as you know, we can't because of Angelos."
"Do you always inculpate others?" Angelos inquired.
'Can we talk later?' he entreated him, almost pleading with him.
"Isn't there another way?" Robin asked.
He thought about that for a moment, trying to remember how it could be done. "Yes, there is. It could be short-circuited with electricity or perhaps we could use the wires to manipulate the security system."
Ben looked down at the Ultimatrix and smiled. 'Electricity, huh?'
He started to turn the dial and activated it. He searched through his playlist for the right alien for this task.
XL saw what he was doing and covered his eyes. "Cover your eyes, he's going to transform," his tone was flat and almost monotonous.
The others decided to follow his suggestion and did just that. Even if it was only a brief flash of light, they were in an enclosed space, which was not the best place to be with bright lights.
He pressed down onto the face of the Ultimatrix and transformed into his alien of choice. When the green light filled the hall it appeared much brighter and concentrated, it was definitely a good idea to cover their eyes to protect from.
When it was all over and the light faded away, they saw that he had changed into a sky and pale blue alien with a body like that of a jellyfish. It was an alien XL recognized because they were from the Andromeda Galaxy just as he was.
"AmpFibian!" he explained. "Yes! Finally the one I wanted!"
"And also the only one who can get into the room and short-circuit the security system without the need for another transformation," XL smiled with his arms crossed in a slight prideful manner.
He went intangible and flew through the security lasers like he wasn't even there. He phased through the door and they could see a light blue light in the cracks of the door.
The lasers shut down and the door opened. He was hovering in the doorway like a ghost in a haunted house.
"Come on, guys, I disabled the system, but it won't last for long," he told them.
XL and Slade were the first ones to start walking, leaving the two Titans. They walked side by side, almost in unison, whenever one was one step ahead of the other, the other would catch up with only a single step.
In the eyes of the Titans' leader, watching them walk together was like watching a king and his right hand walking together in all their glory. The only question is who is the king and who is his right hand? It could be one or the other or even, in some way, both.
It was almost as if he was stuck in a trance while observing them, this was broken by Beast Boy when he saw that his friend was falling behind, "Hey, you coming, Robin?"
He snapped out of his state and responded, "Um, yeah, I'm coming."
AmpFibian waited for the rest of his team to arrive. Once the five of them were together, he used his electrokinetic powers to open a second door inside the room.
That door opened to a large room with some items inside, but it was otherwise barren. Many of the items were large crates, possibly storage containers, which seemed to indicate this was some type of storage room, most likely only one of several in the building.
"Don't tell me we have to go through all of these boxes!" Beast Boy groaned.
"It's too much of a risk to keep Element X in a crate with a variety of items that could cause mass destruction," XL spoke.
"In other words it's likely to not be in a crate, but mostly likely in its own container," Robin surmised.
He nodded, then crouched down next to the crate right next to him with a slight grunt. There was a canister right on the side of it, just tall and wide enough to contain the battery.
He picked it up and opened it like it was a thermos. It opened with a pressurized hiss sound and he looked inside of it after removing the top.
"Well, what do you know," he dug his hand inside and took out the contents, it was the battery, Element X, "what luck."
Everyone was in shock at just how lucky he was. All he had to do was check one container and they were done. Just how lucky could he be?
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" It took everything in Robin to prevent himself from shouting.
"What do you mean?" XL looked very confused.
"You just can't be that lucky," his teeth were gritted, although not tightly, most likely to prevent himself from screaming his head off.
He was initially still confused by this until he came to his own conclusion. "Oh, I see. Your sceptic brain just can't handle the idea of luck. If you can't prove it exists, it must not be real. Is that it? Seems only fitting that it would be a detective that can't prove a thing, don't you think?"
He looked smug when he was finished, although it didn't seem to be pure arrogance, but rather pride. He knew he probably hit a nerve by questioning his ability to comprehend the ideas that most normal people would lose their minds over.
He then shrugged and continued, "Truthfully, this is the most luck I have ever had in years. I'm honestly just as surprised as you are."
"So, now that we have the battery, we can leave, right?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.
"Yes, but it will be difficult to get it up to the surface," he responded.
"What now?" the changeling groaned.
"Fine then," he set the battery down on the ground and raised his foot over it. "I guess we really don't need it."
"What are you doing?" AmpFibian asked, he sounded a little nervous.
"Yes, what are you planning?" Angelos questioned.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he retorted blankly, his foot directly above it.
"Don't be crazy. If you crush that, who knows what could happen!" Robin looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
"Why should that concern me?" he inquired, his voice very calm.
"Xilo…" he could practically hear the growl in Angelos' voice.
'I know what I'm doing,' he reassured. 'Just trust me on this.'
"Is this a joke to you?!" AmpFibian snapped. "The universe is at stake here and you don't care, do you?"
"You're insane!" Beast Boy yelled.
"Nobody ever accused me of being 'sane' in the first place," he was still calm.
He looked over at his 'father', while he was enjoying his performance, it was time for him to end it. He gave him a look and gave the gesture for him to stop playing with them.
'Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted,' he thought with a mental sigh.
His foot backed away from the battery and picked it up. He set it on the crate and picked up the canister. He put the battery back inside and left it standing on the crate.
He looked over at his team, their expressions were worth the façade. They made him wish he brought a camera with him, despite his sharp memory. It would provide a good way to get out of prison the next time he was arrested for mediocre crimes.
He leaned against it and smirked, "You didn't really think I would, did you?"
"Quit toying with us! You scared us half to death!" Robin practically shrieked.
"In all honesty, I really didn't mean to do that," he confessed.
"Then why did you?" he questioned, his voice a little harsh, although he was more stressed out than anything.
He shrugged, "I don't know. I guess I was just annoyed that you think everything that comes out of my mouth is bad news." He shot a look at Beast Boy, who looked very embarrassed. "All I was going to say was that we have to be careful while ascending to the surface. If the battery cracks, it will be too unstable for powering the ship."
"And this entire trip would have been for not," Slade added.
Now, Beast Boy was really embarrassed. It was his fault for acting the way he did and causing XL to do what he did, or rather what he didn't do. He needed to learn how to be more patient, no matter how stressful the situation may be.
"Alright, I'm sorry, man," he apologized.
Instead of forgiving him, he punched him in the shoulder, although it wasn't hard enough to cause him lasting pain. He started to walk towards the door with the canister in hand in a horizontal position.
"Yeah, you better be," he warned ominously.
Slade followed his 'son' and the others followed soon after, albeit with some hesitation. XL certainly had a bit of a twisted sense of humor, not unlike that of his 'father'.
They were soon back where they started, in the entrance of the building. Slade and Robin picked up their helmets and put them back on.
XL pressed a button near the entrance and the room began to fill with water. Beast Boy turned into a toothfish again when the water level was at his neck. Once the room was filled, he pressed another button and the doors opened.
They all swam out and the doors closed behind them. Ensuring that no one could get back inside for anything.
When they were outside, they saw that the remains were gone. They looked over at Tlaloc and found the missing remains, they were in his mouth. He had apparently gotten bored with the hand and decided to play with the entire body.
He stopped his play and turned his head when he felt a hand patting him on the neck. He saw that it was his friend and dropped the skeleton to lick him again.
He laughed when he did, "Alright, alright. We need you to get us up to the surface." He gave a mellow growl in response.
Everyone grabbed onto the fin on his head again for the ascent. AmpFibian wrapped Beast Boy in a tentacle so that he wouldn't be left behind, just as he did earlier as Ripjaws. XL gave him a soft tap and he started to make his way up to the surface.
It would take a while because he told Tlaloc to be careful with the ascent, although didn't go into specific detail. He knew that the slower pace would really put their patience to the test, but it was either that or agonizing pain for a long while.
Their entire time up in XL's old flat seemed to be an eternity. Kevin couldn't stop looking at his phone for the time. He was very anxious for their hour to be over.
He groaned in frustration, "It seems like we've been up here forever!"
Gwen sighed, "Relax, Kevin, it's only for a couple more minutes."
"And then what?! The others aren't back yet! We can't even do anything until they come back!" he shouted. She sighed again in frustration.
Raven sat in a chair with the picture of the mandala in her hands. She was still quite intrigued by it, just as Gwen was, although she was more or less analyzing it than trying to figure out what it was.
Gwen saw this and sat down next to her, "Have you been able to remember anything about it in your magic books?"
She shook her head, "No, and, in all honesty, I don't think it has anything to do with magic."
"Why is that?" she asked.
She was about to answer, when Kevin suddenly exclaimed in glee, "Woohoo! Time's up! We can get out of here now!"
"Ah, yeah! I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that!" Cyborg was grinning from ear to ear.
"Alright, let's get our stuff and get outta here." Kevin started to gather together everything they had with them, as did Cyborg.
Once they had everything together, they started to make their way out of the flat. Then, Raven remembered the promise she made to XL.
"Wait, we promised XL we'd bring him the pictures on the wall," she uttered.
Kevin rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on! We have to get out of here before those things come back!"
His girlfriend gave him a look, "Kevin. A promise is a promise." She started to walk back to the pictures, "Besides, this is the first time he's been home in years. Wouldn't you want something before you have to leave again?"
He groaned, "Fine! But you're carrying them."
She, Raven, and Starfire picked up the pictures they took off the wall and carried them out. There were more still on the wall, but they would have been too much for them to handle.
They made it down to the ground floor without coming into contact with the beings from earlier. Perhaps they left, perhaps they were unable to follow them for some reason, or perhaps something else was afoot.
Cyborg looked around to see if the beings they encountered earlier were still around. "I don't see any of those little guys, I guess they left."
Unfortunately, that was said a little too soon. They heard water splashing behind them and the primitive people came out of the water and climbed onto the platform.
"Do you think they're still angry over what happened earlier?" Kevin asked, a little nervous.
As if on cue, their unruly hair stood up and they drew weapons. Although the weapons appeared to be poorly constructed, they looked like they could deliver serious damage to anything in their way.
"I believe they do!" Starfire responded.
"What should we do now?" Gwen inquired, mostly to herself.
"I'll tell what we'll do," Kevin started as he absorbed the materials in the platform, "we're gonna battle to the end!"
Before anything could happen, however, a geyser suddenly erected from the water. When it fell back to the ocean it came from, they were in shock and a little afraid to see the huge creature that caused it. It looked like a creature Gwen knew as a Krakken, although it was smaller.
The people immediately backed down and their hair went flat onto their backs. They looked absolutely terrified of this new arrival.
The creature then looked down at the team and bared its teeth. They looked lethal and ready to rip apart anything at any given moment.
Starfire shot a starbolt at it in reaction to its sudden and menacing appearance. That shot was countered with an electric attack that didn't come from the creature.
"No! Don't attack him!" a familiar voice cried. That cry was from XL, he and the others had fallen to his back when he emerged from the water. "Don't attack Tlaloc!"
They got off his back and rejoined the other team. Tlaloc nuzzled XL with his snout once the five of them were on the platform.
He laughed and playfully tried to push him away, "Hey! Quit that!" He licked him again, which only caused more laughter.
"Okay, am I the only one who thinks this is weird?" Cyborg asked no one in particular.
"Nope," Kevin answered.
Tlaloc eventually backed off from him long enough for him to give them a quick explanation, "This is Tlaloc, he's an old friend of mine." He nudged him in the side. "Okay, he's more family than friend."
Beast Boy wringed out his hair by brushing it back with his hand and pushing out the water, "Oh, man! I like swimming, but I think I'm done with it for a while."
"Amen to that," Ben agreed, he transformed back into himself when Tlaloc broke the surface.
"Did you guys find a replacement hyperdrive?" Robin questioned.
"Yep, and a few other things," Cyborg held up the items in his hands.
"And, XL," Raven spoke, getting his attention, "against all odds, we found the building you grew up in."
"Trying to get away from the creatures you forgot to tell us about!" Kevin chimed in. Tlaloc growled at him and huffed at his outburst.
He put a hand on him to calm him down, "Sorry about that, I really am." He looked back at the Soronians with a sympathetic look before turning back to Kevin. "They didn't mean you any harm, they are just very curious."
"They attacked us!" he shouted.
He looked back at them and used his free hand to make odd gestures. The leader responded by making similar gestures and some vocalizations.
He turned back to Kevin to tell him what he was just told, "He said you attacked him and they attacked because they assumed you were hostile."
"We assumed they were the ones who were hostile," Starfire uttered.
"He held this sharp bone towards me and I panicked and shot at him," Gwen confessed. "I guess I just assumed he was trying to attack me."
"He wasn't. He was offering you a gift," he claimed.
"A gift?" she repeated. "Why?"
"To show you that they aren't hostile. To know that you're not the hostile ones, they will often demand a gift from you. If you can't give them a gift, they give you one, often something they have immediately on hand," he explained.
"Oh, now I feel kind of bad," she admitted.
"Who has the Element X?" he asked his team.
"I have it," Slade held up the metallic canister for all to see.
"Give to me." He did so and handed it to his 'son'.
He opened it and took out the Element X. He held it in his mouth and closed the container.
He took the battery out of his mouth and handed it to Kevin, "Here. Happy now?"
He took from him and looked at it, "Yeah, now I guess I won't kick your ass."
'Asshole,' he mentally grumbled.
He then went over the Soronians and handed the container to the leader. He examined it in his spindly hands before he bowed to XL, who returned it with a bow of his own to show his respect.
The leader turned to his followers and held up the canister to them, they started to make clicking sounds with their teeth. They also bowed, but theirs were more of a slight bow than a full one, like what the leader did. He bowed his head to show respect to them.
Afterwards, they jumped into the water and swam away. He silently laughed to himself when he noticed how they were doing their best to avoid Tlaloc. Their timidness was very amusing to him and he thought his friend felt the same way.
"Now that they're gone, what do you say we work on getting outta here?" Kevin questioned, most likely to everyone.
"Thought you'd never ask," Cyborg replied.
XL had started to play with Tlaloc again and didn't notice the others leaving him behind. Although, perhaps he didn't want to notice them leaving, he didn't want to leave his childhood home yet, even though he knew he had to if he ever wished to potentially come back some day in the future.
"Hey," Slade spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at him, "it's time to go." He looked away from him and looked up at his friend, he knew exactly what he was thinking. "Look, I know you don't want to leave, but we have to."
"I know," he responded sadly and somewhat heartbroken.
Slade managed to get his 'son' back to the Rust Bucket, although practically had to drag him because he went stiff at the thought of leaving his home again and the only friend he had for the majority of his childhood. He was just glad that he had experience with this type of situation as a father.
Tlaloc followed them back just to be sure that nothing happened to the person who raised him. Although he was certain that it was very unlikely Slade would do anything to hurt him, he cares about him too much.
Once back to the ship, Slade went immediately inside to change out of his Plumber suit. Meanwhile, XL stayed on the wing to spend more time with Tlaloc until the ship was fully repaired.
He would catch flying fish for him and choked them just as he did just before he and his team got into the water. He would then throw the corpse upwards and watch him catch them in his mouth. It was one of their favorite pastimes back then.
Raven looked out a window from inside the cockpit and watched them interact with each other. She knew how saddened he would be when it was time to leave, fortunately, she kept the promise she made him. If that doesn't lift his spirits, nothing will.
When it was time for them to take off, Slade was the one who volunteered himself to tell his 'son'. His heart ached many times on this trip, but this may by the time where it may be too much for even him to handle.
He slid down the side of the ship and landed on the wing, "We're leaving in a minute."
He looked at his 'father' in the corner of his eye, he exhaled deeply through his nostrils. "Okay," he sounded very sad, although his voice did not strain in the slightest.
He looked up at Tlaloc with a saddened expression and he felt the same way he did. As much as the young rock whale would like him to stay with him, he knew that he had to leave. He wasn't sure why he had to, he just knew he did.
He nuzzled him goodbye and slowly went back under the water. XL picked up the last fish he caught and threw it into the water for him.
'We will meet again some day,' he thought.
He turned away and walked back towards the body of the ship with his head hung in sadness. He barely acknowledged Slade's presence as he began to climb up the side of the Rust Bucket like a spider, his 'father' wasn't too far behind him.
They jumped down into the cockpit and Kevin closed the hatch as he and Ben prepared for take off. With the ship now repaired with a new hyperdrive and battery, they were ready for the flight to Augstaka.
XL stood by a window as the Rust Bucket was activated and hovered above the water for a while before they were rising into the sky. He watched the waters get further away from him until they were no longer visible due to the clouds.
He buried his face into the wall and sobbed. He continued to ball his eyes out without even caring if the others noticed him. Now, he felt like he was trapped within a room alone with no one there to know how he felt both inside and out.
*0*~*0*~X-Y-X~*0*~*0*
(A/N: I'm not lying to you guys, I struggled with my emotions with this chapter. I seriously thought I would just start to burst into tears at any moment. If anyone thought the same thing (or actually did), I don't blame you.
The scene where XL says goodbye to Tlaloc is inspired by the "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise, it's a childhood favorite and I've written a couple of stories for that series. If you want to check them out, please, be my guest.)