Dark Titans – Arc 5 - Pre Wedding Jitters
Chapter 4 - Part 2/2
Enjoy if you Will, Tolerate if you won't.
Spice forced herself to exhale as slowly as she could without going blue in the face. Normally, she took pride in her boundless energy, but now it was taking everything she had to contain her frantic nature. She cracked open an eye and let out an annoyed grunt at her current situation.
It turned out that being fidgety in an environment without any gravity meant getting used to opening your eyes and finding yourself upside down more often than not.
A quick glance to the side, after shifting her head several times to clear a path through the floating tendrils of green hair that encircled her head like a cloud of shimmering kelp, revealed the wall where Lotion and the Elders had settled after several hours of floating about in perfect stillness. The ancient masters and her adept friend moved so little that one could mistake them for corpses.
Or a desiccated mummy in Cologne's case!
Spice, on the other hand, had learned that even the gentlest of twitches would push her off a surface and send her slowly tumbling through the air. And in a cavernous, dimly lit hold stuffed with countless crates, there were plenty of surfaces to bounce off.
Plenty of surfaces, but not a single hand hold, handle, or strap in sight, much to her consternation. Of course, why would people that could swim through the void of space with the same ease as a fish through the water worry about such things?
Reaching out, she brushed a finger against one of the crates that appeared to be stuck to the floor by sorcery and sent herself drifting slowly back towards the wall where the others rested. She had already made the mistake of pushing herself full force once; it had taken several hard bounces to finally orient herself again. At least these small movements were helping her get used to the proper way to move in the absence of gravity, though she doubted she would be able to master it to the degree to let her battle one of the Orange Aliens on equal footing any time soon.
A wry chuckle escaped her throat. As if it hadn't been bad enough, spending so many years just trying to catch up to the infamous Shampoo. Now, suddenly there was an entire race of people, all blessed with strength and power to shame any human. Spice wondered if even Shampoo was feeling that keen stab of jealousy these days. After all, hadn't it been months ago that Beast Boy, that adorable man-child, had informed her that his companion, Starfire, had mastered the legendary Hiryu Shoten Ha? Mastered a technique that she had only been used as a training assistant, and then used it to defeat the very person that Cologne had trained to use the technique in the first place?
Even the prodigy Shampoo had not managed the same feat, nor mastered any of the other advanced techniques that Spice heard legend of. Did all Tamaraneans possess that same raw talent, or was it just the red headed alien princess?
Or - Spice felt acute discomfort settle in her stomach - or was the current generation of Amazons just that bereft of talent? It was one thing for a powerful female warrior, a monarch even, to learn their sacred techniques… but what about the outsider male that had been with the Titans? He had learned several of their most powerful secrets and knew several other esoteric and amazing techniques as well. And rumors were that Shampoo's outsider husband was even more talented!
Perhaps the problem wasn't outwards, trying to measure up to those around her, such as Shampoo and her famous lineage, or Starfire and her alien strength. Maybe it was something that she was missing, that all her sisters were lacking, something that she needed to find before she could unlock her true potential.
With a dull 'thunk', her head impacted the wall, and she let out a put-upon sigh at the choked giggle that escaped her friend's lips. Then again, maybe she was just overthinking things, and the entire universe was just unfair. Boredom was a more attractive alternative to her current self-reflection. Maybe if she could actually get to sleep - she couldn't even track how many hours they had been floating here in the near dark - but it still continued to elude her.
Granted, it probably wasn't a good idea to sleep while free floating, but anything was better than this.
A loud chiming sound echoed through the hold, jarring the young warrior from her thoughts as she looked around in surprise. The sudden jolt sent her spinning into the hold once more, while her companion's eyes merely snapped open at the unexpected sound.
"Attention," a voice, male and vaguely familiar, sounded from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
"Attention, to the group of unauthorized passengers currently situated in our hold, this is your Captain speaking."
Cologne looked to Perfume, Lotion looked to Spice, and every other permutation of said looks possible all occurred in a brief instant.
"Please do not be alarmed," the voice continued in a calm tone. "I would like to take this time to cordially invite you to join us on the bridge. We need to discuss this rather delicate diplomatic situation that your actions have placed us all in."
Spice looked to the Honored Matriarch for guidance. The snowy-haired ancient looked around the room, obviously weighing every potential for victory available, her bark like knuckles began to creak as her grip tightened on her staff.
"As a sign of good faith and a demonstration of our desire to speak in a civilized manner," the Captain's voice rang out, sounding supremely confident, "We have contravened the standard protocol of venting all atmosphere from the ship, as it does tend to make speech difficult."
The emerald haired Amazon's eyes widened at the frank statement. The thought of slowly suffocating in this metal box had not been one of the scenarios she had contemplated in the case they were discovered. Granted, most of those scenarios had involved her engaging in glorious battle with their alien enemies, bouncing from wall to wall like in a bad anime.
A good-humored chuckle rattled Cologne's withered throat, surprising the distraught Spice.
"My, my. It appears that we underestimated our opponents this time."
Perfume nodded, smiling confidently. "I wonder how they discovered us. I had thought our infiltration had been flawless."
Lotion, on the other hand, did not share the Elders' effortless calm. "I-I suppose we should go ask?"
As if in answer to her question, the large double door set into the wall to the north - Wait, was it still north? Did north even exist here? - the door over there, slid open, flooding the hold with light from the hallway beyond.
"If our honored guests would please follow the corridor, at the end there is a vertical access shaft that will bring you to the bridge." There was a brief pause. "I have seen fit to clear your path of all personnel to minimize any chances of… issues."
Awkwardly, Lotion began to push off the wall, but pushed too hard and started on a course that would take her well past the door. Even with her modicum of experience, Spice was easily able to grab her friend, spin around a few times with the momentum before launching Lotion out the open door. A moment later, she gently kicked off a crate herself and started to float elegantly through the door.
Maybe just sitting still and trying to look cool for hours on end wasn't all that useful after all! She might be fidgety, but Spice noticed that even the Elder's movements were more hesitant than her own, though they covered it up with their decades of training.
"Clever male," Perfume noted as she slowly angled from one wall across to the next to better control her movements, while Cologne, Lotion and Spice just lazily floated down the center of the corridor. In retrospect, it looked pretty fun, and Spice wanted to try it herself. "Clearing out any potential hostages that we might have taken to strengthen our bargaining position."
The aged matriarch nodded. "He must have a suspicion of who might have stowed away on his ship. If he thought it was just a few hot-headed children, I doubt he would have shown so much concern." Her lips twisted into an oaken grin. "Still, it is good that this Captain knows his place well enough to show proper respect."
Spice took a few moments to admire the ship as they flew down its length. The interior was more open and rounded than she had expected, as she had seen on the few sea ships she had seen in China. Maybe it maximized the amount of space for the Orange Aliens to fly around each other, since they weren't limited to just walking side by side? There was a lot of purple, which was nice, but mixed in with a rather grotesque amount of red. It appeared that the Tamaranean's sense of color coordination was as alien as their nine stomachs.
There were many doors they floated past, all sealed. Several curved black displays, not too different from the ones on the new LexCorp devices in the village, studded the walls, all inactive. Interestingly, there were a number of openings in the ceiling above them, obviously more of those 'access shafts' the captain mentioned to allow easy travel between the decks. They were all closed and sealed as well, though she couldn't see any obvious locks or latches that would open them.
She couldn't really place where the light was coming from, either, but it looked like, and even felt like, daylight, honestly. It was odd, but somewhat refreshing after sitting in the dark for so long.
All too soon, the end of the corridor loomed ahead. Perfume, well ahead of the rest of them, bounced from wall, to ceiling, to the far well, then to floor, setting herself perfectly to shoot straight up through the large opening that led up into the heart of the ship. Cologne simply held out her cane before her and hit the wall without so much as a sound, somehow stopping dead without even a single bounce, then tapped the floor, sending her upwards in a stately manner.
Lotion, on the other hand, did not appear to have figured out her own landing solution. Instead of their mentors' graceful approaches, the pale haired Scholar opted for a more 'arm flailing' approach, cursing silently under her breath as she tried vainly to slow her collision course for the wall. Spice considered trying to help her companion, but, smiling widely, she chose a different approach, gracefully spinning herself around in midair.
As such, a moment after the would-be Scholar slammed into the wall and bounced off, she was reintroduced to it roughly as Spice's steely buns slammed into her back. The undignified squawk from Lotion as her face was pressed up against the strange purple metal was everything Spice had hoped for, as she pushed up from the floor to shoot up through the opening and out range of her friend's clumsy retaliation.
A quick glance back down revealed the stranded Amazon to be caught helpless in the middle of the corridor, unable to reach the walls after Spice had… assisted her. A string of quiet curses that sounded suspiciously like 'brat!' and 'child!' did make the younger warrior feel a bit guilty. Dipping into her pocket, she pulled out a length of weighted ribbon and flicked it down towards her stranded friend.
The fine material wrapped around Lotion's wrist easily enough, and a quick tug got her friend moving in the right direction. It also slowed her own assent, but in this case, she had inertia on her side.
Finally, the four of them were loosely assembled before the large, reinforced set of doors covered in strange alien script that must have meant 'Bridge', and the doors slid open silently before them. As one, they pushed off the wall and floated through the opening. The moment they passed the threshold Spice was surprised as her feet suddenly dropped to the ground.
The burgeoning warrior couldn't help but look around in excitement at the so-called 'Bridge'. The room was massive, as large as the Council Hall back in the village, with various floating platforms and futuristic workstations just jutting out of the walls at seemingly random heights. She didn't have a single clue what anything did, or, for that matter, how anyone that couldn't fly could even work here, but that hardly mattered.
Everything looked so sleek and elegant, and that went doubly so for the command crew.
There were a dozen souls on the bridge, and all were currently turned to face them, some sitting at the floating stations, some just hovering in the air next to consoles, and, sitting in a large hovering chair- Of course it would be hovering, I mean, why wouldn't it be? -was the captain. Rising to his feet, the commanding male swept his long, dazzlingly bronze hair over his shoulder in a hair flip that would put most runway models to shame.
Tall, trim, lean and with a face lost somewhere between handsome and gorgeous, Spice absently waved a hand at her cheeks, trying to dissipate the building heat. The fact that the Tamaraneans' work uniforms made even the most brazen of Amazon's look modest definitely had nothing to do with it. After all, being able to count the Captain's sculpted abs had to be good for morale, right? Glancing to her side, Spice noticed Lotion struggling to maintain eye contact with the Captain, Cologne seeming to not notice the situation at all, and Elder Perfume-
"Ugh, who wants a man prettier than herself?"
Spice nearly jumped at the words whispered directly into her ear. Spinning to her other side, she stared nearly face to face with a grinning Perfume. The elder ran a hand through her own luxurious hair before winking conspiratorially and standing straight once more. Thankfully, Spice was too shocked by the comment, or else she would have burst into laughter at the idea.
Before them, the Captain gave a polite, shallow bow, his feet floating a fraction of an inch above the deck plating. He then held his hands out in welcome, the large green gemstones adorning his gloves glinting in the light.
"Greetings, Honored Elders. It is a pleasure to speak with you again."
Elder Cologne nodded, while Elder Perfume gave a matching bow. "I must apologize, Captain Phyarelle. We have involved you in an incident which is none of your doing." She offered a weak smile. "We only desire to speak with your Grand Ruler, face to face, to see if we can get to the bottom of this unfortunate turn of events."
Captain Phyarelle nodded, hanging gracefully in the air. Around the bridge, the rest of the crew, an assortment of males and females, bore expressions as diverse as their uniforms were risqué. It didn't take a scholar in training to realize that their stowing away had generated no small amount of tension among the crew.
"Yes, and I'm certain that she would have been thrilled to have a small band of elite warriors suddenly spring forth from one of her returning ships without warning or explanation." The captain's words were sarcastic, until he donned a thoughtful look, stroking his chin. "Then again, maybe she would? I have never actually met our Grand Ruler in person, though her… reputation does precede her."
That statement seemed to get a startlingly strong reaction from the crew. Several of the men and women seemed to get strangely defensive, while the rest looked… looked to be on the verge of frothing at the mouth. She heard one of the closer crew members mutter an alien phrase under their breath. The words meant nothing, but the speaker's expression made her think of someone spitting out a mouthful of snake venom. Instantly, the captain flashed a furious look at the officer, causing them to duck their head in shame.
"Ahem, my apologies," Captain Phyarelle coughed into his hand politely. "As officers of the Royal Navy, whose loyalty lies with the Crown, the squabbles of the politicians back home should be beneath us to discuss."
While the Captain's explanation was tacitly for them, it was obvious that the ranking Tamaranean was looking to every member of his bridge crew as he spoke the last words. Some of the crew nodded, others responded with defiant looks, but ultimately none spoke a word of protest to their leader.
Through all of this, her Elders watched on with eager interest. No doubt learning even more from what was being said, and what wasn't being said, than Spice could ever hope to. It appeared that the situation was far more interesting than she had first expected, and that the Orange Aliens were not nearly the united Monolith she had assumed.
"Ah, if you don't mind…" Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly after that speech back at the grove, it was Lotion that broke the tense silence. The taller Amazon took a half a step forward, dipping her head respectfully. "I did have a question."
Captain Phyarelle studied her for a moment, before smiling widely in recognition. "Ah, the young scholar… Lotion, wasn't it? Yes, I owe you an apology as well, now don't I?" He paused for a moment, before letting out a loud chuckle. "Or perhaps I don't? Though I doubt this is what you had intended for your tour of my fine vessel."
Instantly, Lotion's face was washed out with red, contrasting starkly with her pale hair. Around the bridge, people began to smile and laugh at the exchange. Perfume and Cologne looked on, wearing their own enigmatic smiles.
"Y-yes, I mean no!" Lotion gave her head a good shake, then took a long deep breath before finally continuing. "What I mean to say is, that I was curious as to how you discovered our presence on your vessel. I had thought, after so long, that we had evaded all detection on our entry."
"An excellent question, and a good a start for your tour as any, now that we have many days to acquaint you formally with the Void Skipper… at least, I think that's how it translates." The captain furrowed his brow, before shrugging and gesturing to a woman floating next to one of the wall mounted consoles. "Lieutenant X'harran is our Chief of Security and is responsible for revealing your trespass."
The imposingly tall woman crossed her arms over her chest and gave a cocky snort. It was impressive that she still managed to look professional, considering her uniform was what could only be aptly described as a 'battle bikini', and her long copper hair was held up with a series of… apparatus seemed more accurate than ornaments, honestly.
"Did you honestly think that I would not be able to spot such a large weight discrepancy in our cargo manifest?"
The air near cracked as four gazes whipped about to lock onto the titian hued woman with murderous intensity. Even one of such supreme confidence, training and experience as the tall officer crumbled instantly under the combined stares of the Elder Amazon warriors.
"W-w-wait! Did I say large?" the Tamaranean officer began to sweat visibly, despite likely being able to take a relaxing nap inside a bonfire without even noticing. "I meant miniscule discrepancy! Vanishingly small! In fact - in fact, it was not even me that discovered you." X'harran suddenly pointed to a younger looking male up on one of the floating work stations. "Hynon'r checks the various sensors, he was the one that informed me."
Instantly, all eyes on the bridge locked on the lanky male with mousy chestnut hair. To his credit, he was actually wearing pants, unlike the rest of the crew, but made up for it by wearing little more than a pair of crossed sashes over his thin, but still decidedly well-toned chest. Panic filled his face at the sudden attention, and he frantically began pecking away at the console before him.
"Y-yes! Sensors, I have lots of sensors! So many sensors!" Spice found herself smiling despite herself, sympathizing for the obviously lower ranking male being put on the spot. Even the Captain was obviously struggling to hold in his laughter as Hynon'r stalled. "There are much better ways to find an intruder. Internal cameras, temperature readings, foreign contaminant scans… um… even checking the life support for localized imbalances in atmosphere is a good one, as living things tend to expel lots of gasses…"
Spice felt blood rush to her cheeks as his meaning suddenly became clear. "I-I didn't expel any gas!"
Stifled laughter sounded around her, causing her face to burn all the hotter. Lotion, however, dropped a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rolling her eyes, her sister in arms gave her shoulder a squeeze. "He's just referring to our breathing," she turned to Hynon'r for confirmation. "Isn't that correct?"
The young Tamaranean paused for a decidedly depressing length of time, nervously fidgeting with several controls, before nodding. "Yes… of course. Anyway, I should get back to work now. So many sensors to monitor. Short range, long range...huh?"
It was interesting to see the response that something as innocuous as 'huh' could generate when said by the right person. Kind of like when a healer says 'oops'. Captain Phyarelle immediately lost his playful edge, his expression growing intense and all but demanding an explanation without saying a word. All around the rest of the bridge, people turned back to their own stations.
Hynon'r studied his own station intently for several long moments, making a few more tweaks, before finally looking up to address the Captain.
"I have just picked up a ship ahead of us, at outer range of our Long-Range scanners. It appears to be on the same course but moving much slower."
"Any reason for concern?" Captain Phyarelle asked in a calm tone.
"The ship is tiny, minimal armaments, and looks like a fairly primitive FTL system. Definitely not a threat to our ship… however, this cannot be right, let me confirm."
Everyone waited patiently as the young officer dove into his work. Spice took notice that, while quite nervous while being teased, when it came to his duty, Hynon'r worked as confidently as anyone she had ever met.
"Captain, I have confirmed. There is a Tamaranean transponder on that vessel."
To say that Raven had a bit of a headache would be like saying Ryouga had a tiny little issue finding his way. It did seem fitting, though, as her feet were swollen, her legs felt like Jell-O, her back was aching and her stomach was churning. Why not complete the suffering Bingo?
The only thing worse than how she was feeling after spending well over two full days sitting in this god's forsaken cockpit, was the fact that they weren't even halfway to Tamaran yet!
The lavender haired Titan rubbed her temples with her fingertips, driving them in wide, hard circles, hoping to squeeze out the pain, but meeting minimal success. At best, squeezing her eyes shut meant she didn't have to look at the bottle sitting in the far corner of the cockpit, covered up with her cloak.
"Ohh, maaaaan! I am soooo bored! I need to get out and run!"
Well, at least she wasn't suffering alone.
"What are you complaining about, Beast Boy," came Robin's incredulous reply. "You're the only one here that can exercise. You turn into a mouse and you have an Olympic size track to run."
"Nuh uh! Star can go out and fly whenever she wants!"
"Friend Beast Boy, as I have explained many times, exiting a craft that is traveling faster than light would lead to catastrophic structural failures that would result in the death of all aboard."
Was that so? Raven made a note. The option was starting to sound tempting after so long cooped up with her friends.
"Hey! Everyone lay off, alright?" Cyborg, the voice of reason, finally intervening. "The last time you guys started pestering everyone, Raven's tantrum nearly took out the Life support system!"
Raven felt her eye twitch.
"Ex-cuse me?" Raven lifted herself up, just so she could spin around to glare at Cyborg's transparent bubble dome at the back of the ship. "But who was the genius that decided to take the family station wagon on a billion-mile road trip and didn't even think to make the seats recline?"
The titanium Titan half jumped up, hitting his head on the dome with a satisfying 'thunk' that echoed through the comm. "Station Wagon? I practically magicked a submersible vehicle meant to be piloted for only a few hours at a time into an interstellar craft capable of keeping us alive for the week it takes to get to Tamaran! So sorry that I couldn't fit in the jacuzzi for ya!"
"Please, friends! Do not quarrel! The fault for our current situation is solely mine."
Looking across the craft, tacitly ignoring Beast Boy in the center section, Raven noted Starfire looking back at her, her strong hands pressed up against the inside of her own transparent dome. The look of anguish on the Tamaranean's face was no doubt a result of everyone else's frustration, rather than her own.
Azar, she really was too good for the Earth.
"Star, none of this is your fault." As a group, everyone turned to the lone occupant of the front section of the ship, looking so isolated against the black void. Even though his back was facing them, it was obvious that his shoulders were slumped, making the Titan's young leader look quite tired. "We're all just tired, and frustrated, and angry."
Raven leaned back into her seat, feeling her migraine lessen for the moment. Conversely, Starfire leaned forward in her dome, hanging expectantly on the spiky haired hero's words.
"I think that we are still trying to come to terms with… everything that is going on." A green gloved hand pressed against the interior of Robin's dome, even though he continued to face forward. "I mean, the thought of los-"
The rest of his words were lost as a loud alarm sounded throughout the entire vessel, complete with red lights and their long-ignored console displays surging back to life. The look on Starfire's face at the unexpected distraction could only be described as crestfallen.
"Everyone keep sharp," Cyborg took command immediately, the bulk of the scanners monitored from his section of the ship. "Something just blazed into our scanner range, and it's heading our way… fast, too!"
"Maybe we should ask 'em for a tow?" Beast Boy offered, probably only half joking.
The information on the incoming object was quickly routed from Cyborg to the rest of them, and Raven struggled to try to make out what the readings meant.
"It's not just fast, it's big," Robin added. "I know it's crazy, considering how big space is, but what are the chances this is a coincidence?"
"Astronomical?" Raven offered, though her wry grin felt very forced.
"Well, only one way to find out. Cyborg, change our trajectory a few degrees and drop us out of FTL. Let's see if they shoot past us, preferably without us ending up a bug on their windshield."
"And if they don't?" inquired an anxious Beast Boy.
"Then I guess we got a fight on our hands," Cyborg replied tersely. "Cuz, as much as I hate to admit it, there's no way we're outrunning whatever it is."
A moment later, the ship veered to the side, before dropping in speed. Raven could hear the plastic of her controls creak under her grip as the tension rose, moment by moment.
A sudden explosion of light and silence heralded the arrival of their new friend. It was just as bad as she feared. Massive, looming and… purple? The vessel dwarfed the T-Ship, it had to be at least a few hundred meters long, though it was hard to tell, staring at the ship nose on. She could only guess how big the weapons on such a ship must be.
Any further ruminations of doom were cut off, however, by the excited clapping of hands.
Raven turned to her side, disbelief rendering her mute, as she could only watch Starfire bounce up and down in her seat, excitement clear on her face.
"It is the Void Skipper! They must be returning from the Earth as well." The flame haired Titan glanced around at all her companions, her joy slowly descending into confusion. "However, I had believed their cultural assignment to the village was to have lasted for several more months… why are they also returning to Tamaran?"
"Wait, Tamaran sent a warship to Earth to deal with the Amazons?" Cyborg's incredulous tone no doubt reflected more than just Raven's own.
"Of course not, the Void Skipper is but a Light Cruiser." Starfire then vanished from sight, rooting around her seat, before popping up a moment later with the strange device Raven recognized as her Tamaranean communication device.
"You would not believe the amount of paperwork that needed to be filed with the Green Lantern Corp just to allow a single vessel to enter Sector 2814 from the Vegan system," she muttered as she fiddled about with the thing, pressing buttons here and there before a voice sounded across the ship's comms for them all to hear.
Unfortunately, the language being spoken was Tamaranean (Raven had grown familiar with the hard consonant and almost guttural sounds during a few of Starfire's Mustard binges).
Starfire responded in kind, the only word Raven could make out was 'Koriand'r', obviously identifying herself. The rest was as good as gibberish to her. The two spoke back and forth until finally-
"Ah, yes, English. I must say I've been getting a lot more practice with my Mandarin, but luckily my… language coach from the Joketsuzoku was well versed." The voice gave a worldly chuckle before continuing. "Greetings, young Titans. I am Captain Phyarelle, of the Void Skipper, of her Highness' Royal Navy. Please allow me to extend to you my gratitude for personally escorting our Lady Koriand'r back home."
"Ask them for a ride, dude!" Beast Boy's lack of understanding on how the comm system worked made certain that everyone alive and present heard his whispered plea.
"Ahem!" Starfire coughed dramatically into her hand. "It fills me with joy to cross your path on the journey back to Tamaran, Captain. Perhaps, if you were so inclined… you could render some assistance?"
There was another light chuckle. "Yes, it can't be too comfortable making this trip in a cramped shuttle pod such as that. I commend your bravery, my Lady."
Raven fought the urge to smile; she didn't need to hear it to know that Cyborg was grinding his teeth after that comment.
"Unfortunately…" Oh, no. Raven didn't like the sound of that. "There are… complications. My Lady, it pains me to inform you, but, by decree of the Grand Ruler, you have been declared… oh, what's that Earth term again? You know the one." There was a pause, some hushed whispering, before, "Ah, yes! Persona Non Grata. As such, even if our holds weren't full, we would be unable to allow your vessel to dock with us."
While Starfire was, understandably, too shocked to respond to that statement, something lodged itself in Raven's craw and would not allow her to think of anything else.
"Wait, you know Latin?"
"Oh my, yes. I have learned much about your Latin culture!" The Captain gave a wistful sigh. "The music, the food… well, honestly, I wasn't enthused with the food, not enough fight in it, but oh the music! And I think many of your dances will become quite popular on Tamaran."
"Captain!" Starfire's impassioned plea disrupted the Captain's own rather passionate derail. Raven wanted, very much, to follow up her line of questioning, as she was fairly certain there was some confusion going on, but her friend's own issues seemed more important at the moment.
"Please, can you explain why such an odious proclamation has been made?"
There was a moment of hesitation, before Captain Phyarelle responded. "I can only explain my orders. I just… how can I put this diplomatically…"
Starfire's face was nearly as red as her hair as she clutched the communication device. "Captain, please just tell me what was said!"
"Well, the initial communique was something along the lines of, and I quote 'That idiot signed a treaty with a gaggle of mud dwelling stone chuckers? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Get your asses back to Tamaran, now!'"
As terrible as it was and judging by the fact that Starfire's ears were nearly glowing now, it was bad, Raven still had to suppress a giggle. She had always thought that treaty idea had been a bit half baked, herself.
"Which was soon followed by 'If that twit loves those humans so much, then they can give her a ride, or she can fly home herself, for all I care.'" The Captain gave a tired sigh. "Please forgive me, My Lady. Unfortunately, even with the loosest interpretation of those 'orders', I cannot allow you to board my vessel."
Several long, tense moments passed, her Tamaranean friend writhing in humiliation, only for her face to shift from molten red to ashen pale at record pace. "No, no no no, it cannot be." Looking up, her expression now one of stark disbelief, Star stared intently at the device in her lap. "The new Grand Ruler, they said those exact words? I only know one person that would speak to me in such a manner. You cannot mean to tell me that the new Grand Ruler is…"
"That is correct. By Right of Blood, and by Rite of Strength, Lady Blackfire toppled the Lord Regent and assumed the throne."
At that revelation, her friend seemed to shut down completely, just staring down at her hands blankly.
Not sure what else to say, Raven pursed her lips as she regarded her dear friend.
Robin, at least, was still in the state of mind to react. "Does that mean there isn't anything you can do to help us? After all-" Raven could hear him trying to force the words out through clenched teeth. "Your Grand Ruler did summon Starfire, explicitly. There must be something she needs, and you're travelling a lot faster than us."
Raven blew out a long sigh, pushing her long bangs up and out of her eyes. "Even Beast Boy's stupid towing idea would be better than what we're doing."
"Hey! Why is it stupid just because it's my idea?"
"Hmm," Captain Phyarelle's indulgent 'hmm' preempted yet another tedious, yet stress relieving argument. "Actually, I would go so far as to say the idea is genius. After all, the order was to let My Lady travel with her human friends. There was nothing saying we could not… expedite the matter."
There was another pause, before Captain Phyarelle continued, the mirth gone from his voice now.
"After all, I feel that My Lady returning home may be best for Tamaran."
The moon shone down on the small island with its full splendor, bathing the scenic resort town that rested at the foot of the towering mountain peak with gentle luminescence. Lush forests surrounded the town on all sides, and the sea glittered like an ocean of diamonds in the moonlight. Even this late into the night, lights littered the city, and even from such a distance, the sound of lively music could be heard. A destination to delight the senses and sooth the soul.
Or so the brochure said.
"You wouldn't even suspect that this entire town was nearly destroyed when our good friend erupted just a meager few decades ago, would you, Teekl?"
Klarion smiled down to the furry orange form of his Familiar perched comfortably on his shoulder. Giving her a quick scratch on the chin for good measure, he gave a small chuckle. To be fair, Mount Monokoa had been cheated that time, denied his proper due in lives and destruction. The old scar in the volcanic formation, a massive opening blasted out of the back of the mountain, was now filled with volcanic rock, long since cooled. It would be poetry itself.
"And to think I wanted to go to San Baquero instead. Luckily, some idiots exploded her out of existence a few years back."
Taking a step forward, the empty space beneath his feet offering the same footing as if he were walking across granite, Klarion took in the sights and sounds. The wind in his ears, the crash of the waves, the laughing of tourists. It was all so natural, so pure…
So tediously boring! What was the point of traveling halfway across the world to escape your boring life, just to plop yourself down into a slightly different chair, in a slightly different place and drink a slightly different beer?
If there was one thing the Witch Boy knew, it was excitement. And that was what these people needed, far more than lame, boring relaxation!
The Lord of Chaos was actually disappointed that he hadn't considered doing this before, and the moment was somewhat soured by the fact that his action actually had a reason at the moment, and that he was carrying out a part of a… a plan, eugh.
Here. Klarion looked down to his feet, now standing directly atop the intersection of ley lines that permeated this place of primal power.
"Dormant is not dead, my old friend, and that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."
Badly mangling famous quotations was its own form of chaos.
He raised his arms deliberately and with great purpose, only to fling his hands up with violent intensity. The lines below him, invisible to the uninitiated, surged with red fire and the air began to tremble, as if in trepidation of the happenings.
Words began to spill from his lips, words that no human was meant to hear, and words that a human tongue should not have been able to form. Beneath him, bleeding out from the crossing lines of energy, a circle began to form, arcane sigils of angular and abstract beauty carving themselves into the very bedrock of reality.
Klarion could not contain his smile as the words continued to spill forth. The air around him grew heavier with each syllable, even as the air began to shimmer with primordial heat. Teekl purred in contentment from her perch.
On the island, Mt. Monokoa, dormant for so many years, began to quake.