Titans' Island wasn't really an island, per se. True, it was a land mass fully surrounded by water: the East River, to be precise. But the mass of land was small, maybe an acre and a half, most of which was overgrown flora, with some battered trees thrown into the mix. There was evidence of violent damage to most of the greenery, due mostly in part to bearing the brunt of steady attacks on this landmass, home of the Titans' base of operations. Where once stood a proud, sleek tower constructed of Promethium steel and girders now lived a gaping break in the ground, protected from the outside by an undetectable force field of alien technology. Beneath the gap in the ground was what remained of Titans' Tower.
A few yards off to the east, a rip in the fabric of space began to form, bearing tiny crystalline shards on the edges. The tear opened in a wide oval, and through the portal stepped the young ginger-haired girl in the purple cloak. Her bare feet stepped onto the cool sand of the shore, sounding off a melodic chime from the crystals on her anklets. She removed her hood and breathed in deeply. The subtle wind rustled her hair and caressed her face as she looked west at the Manhattan skyline, a sight that reminded her of Joey, her first true love. Unbeknownst to the girl, an alarm had set off a few meters beneath her feet, alerting the Titans of an intruder on their island.
She strode along a footpath, expecting to see the towering structure that sheltered her so long ago, and gasped with eyes wide to see the rupture in the ground where the headquarters once stood. She dropped to her knees and blinked in hopes of it only being a mirage. It wasn't. She bowed her head, slouched over, and began to cry. "They're gone," she whispered.
"Hold it right there, we've got you surrounded!" shouted a voice, familiar and harmonic, from someplace behind her. A chill released her from her sudden sense of despair, and she rose to turn around.
"Donna," she cried.
Donna Troy, sided by Roy Harper and a green gorilla that was Gar Logan, stood a few yards away from the crystal-spinning girl. Donna's long black hair was a silken glaze over her striking face, but her face was currently contorted with stun: the intruder was Kole Weathers, her friend whom she believed to be dead, but there she stood, flesh and alive.
"KOLE!" screamed gorilla-Gar as he shape-shifted into human form and ran to her. Before Donna could move or speak, Gar had thrown his arms around Kole and pulled her to him.
"So I take it she's a friendly intruder," droned Roy Harper wanly as he lowered his bow and watched Donna follow Gar's lead. Roy sighed, shrugged, and started over to see what all the fuss was about.
Kole hadn't spoken a word yet. She still could hardly believe this was finally happening to her, that she was truly in the arms of her friends.
Donna pulled Gar from his hold on Kole and put her own hands on Kole's shoulders, standing face to face with her revived comrade. "How is this possible, Kole?" Donna choked, "We saw you—die."
Kole wiped her cheeks of tears and answered, "I did. And I'm back. It's a long story."
"Come inside," insisted Donna, as Gar shifted into a tiger and Roy scratched his head.
"Inside?" inquired Kole, thinking about the absent tower, "Inside where?"
Donna laughed. "It's a long story!" she countered.
A comforting sense of familiarity struck Kole Weathers as she quietly trailed her friends through the halls of this unfamiliar place; a mutual awkward silence prevailed, but no one made an effort to squelch it. They passed a common room, alight with overhead fluorescents and neon trimming along the soffets. Within, a huge television blared Saturday morning cartoons, and before the TV sat a striking young girl with silky black hair. To Kole, the girl looked like she could be Donna's child, though there was an Asian presence in her eyes. The black haired girl's eyes met Kole's and went wide. She dropped the Lego blocks she was busy snapping and stood.
"Daddy!" yelled Lian Harper, "Who's this lady?" She ran toward the group.
Roy knelt beside his daughter and put his arm over her shoulder. "This is our friend Kole," said Roy, "Kole, this is my daughter Lian."
Kole smiled as Lian reached her tiny right hand out to shake. Lian's eyes were large and bright, filling Kole's heart with joy. Kole reached back and obliged the greeting, saying, "Pleased to meet you, Lian."
As quickly as she had made her little presence known, Lian bolted back to her building blocks and parked herself in front of the TV. Roy chuckled and muttered, "Kids."
The four of them continued toward the kitchen area, with the momentary break in the awkward calm gone. Only tiger-Gar could be heard with excited banter about how he couldn't wait to call Vic, how he would love to see Bat-Boy's face when he heard the news, etc. Donna knew explanations were in order, and she dreaded having to tell Kole about Joey's passing, not to mention the circumstances preceding it. Roy just wanted to get a shower. Kole, filled with so many emotional butterflies, didn't know where she was going to begin with her tale. Roy broke off to the gym, the place he'd been hanging his personal belongings temporarily until he got quarters back in which to shave and shower. Tiger-Gar transformed into an owl and swooped in the direction of the main communications center, presumably to contact Vic Stone and Dick Grayson. Donna Troy took Kole's left hand in her right and led her into the kitchen.
"You must be thirsty," insisted Donna, "what can I get you."
"Some cold water would be great," replied Kole, still somewhat apprehensive at what quite possibly could be just another false reality, jarred by memories of similar scenarios that had been played out for her over the last few years. Tangible or not, she wasn't ready to give up her trust quite yet.
"Donna," Kole began, "when we touched, I sensed such alarming confusion. It all felt so real."
Donna set Kole's glass of water on the table and sat across from her. She stretched her arms across, intending they should hold hands again. Kole obliged with a pallid smile and closed her eyes. Donna did the same, for when she initially held Kole a few minutes earlier, she too felt the flood of disorder, perhaps a remainder of the 'gift' Dark Angel bestowed on her. She knew that somehow Kole had touched that part of her psyche. They remained that way, unmoving, for quite some time, and when Donna opened her eyes, she saw something amazing, a kind of phenomenon for which words would not suffice.
Kole, with eyes still tightly shut, was aglow, her alabaster skin now crystalline, almost opaque, capturing and refracting every bit of light in the room. The cherubic curves of her face were now sharp, chiseled edges of a million-sided gem, radiant and resplendent. The girl who once could spin crystal had now become crystal, and yet the touch of her hands still held the warm fire of life. Surprisingly, Donna didn't gasp or react in any way other than calm; somehow she expected this as a natural development. It quite possibly was part of the explanation as to how she survived death.
Kole opened her eyes, grinned, and released Donna's hands. "Robert and Terry were real, Donna," she said, "and they're at peace."
Donna's heart raced. This was the event in her life that needed closure the most, with her personal history being so convoluted and almost unraveled by Dark Angel. She needed to know they were once there, that she did indeed once hold her lovely coiled-haired son, that those memories were never false. She had to know that the tragedy, which stole them from her, left them at peace. And right now, sitting adjacent to someone who was resurrected from the dead and metamorphosed into a higher level of being, she truly believed Kole's words. They not only rang true, they were gospel.
Before Donna Troy's eyes, Kole's hardened skin reverted back to flesh, cheeks rosy, lips pink, and eyes clear cerulean. The girls stood and hugged, and this time it was a different embrace, a homecoming of sorts.
"Yes! Girl on girl action!" barked wolf-Gar as he trotted into the room and expanded into human form. "Titans Girls Gone Wild, now on VHS and DVD!" he added.
Donna chuckled, and faced Kole. "Some things never change," she reassured.
A few hours later, it was a veritable Titans reunion in the monitor room of their half-destroyed headquarters. Present were Donna, now in her Troia leotard, Gar Logan, playfully dubbed Beast Boy (and surprisingly in human form), Roy Harper suited up as Arsenal, Toni Louise Monetti, a new member of the group called Argent with curly black hair and no skin color, Dick Grayson, Nightwing-in-full except for the mask, Wally "the Flash" West, and a handsome, non-robotic Victor Stone. As each Titan had arrived, stories were exchanged and histories rehashed. Wally was married with a kid on the way, Vic went through some heavy transformations, one which nearly destroyed the Earth, before he got to his current state of nearly human, and Gar, despite the day's exhibitions of usual immaturity, had really grown up, so much so that he was intent on recreating a new Titans West organization. The only consistency throughout each person's reintroduction to Kole was that no one mentioned Joey Wilson. His name was avoided, and any topic that might involve what the souls of Azarath did to him was considerately omitted. Not that it went by Kole Weathers unnoticed. In fact, it didn't surprise her that they didn't want to tell her of his physical death. They just had no idea she already knew.
"Has anyone heard from Kory?" inquired Kole softly.
"She's been spending time on Themyscira with the Amazons," responded Donna. "We can get her here if you like."
Kole didn't answer. She nodded, and sighed heavily. The time had come for her to tell, to answer the queries the folks around her were secretly clamoring to uncover. She stood, stretched her arms before her chest, drew open her hands, and spun a crystal. It glowed, incandescent, lighting the room.
"Whoa," murmured Argent, catching a glare from Nightwing that said, be quiet, Toni. She rolled her eyes and silently mouthed, whatever.
The gemstone in Kole's hands grew just larger than a grapefruit as it stopped spinning. Its glow took on a different property, a holographic one, which slowly began to expand. In a matter of seconds, a projection, cast like a three dimensional film, was playing out for the small, titanic audience.