Abel looked at his room and sighed. For some reason it was still unfinished. He looked down at the paint roller and remembered how Starfire had tried to "help" him…
I bobbed my head to my music as I painted my room navy blue. Starfire walked in carrying a bucket and paint roller. I removed my headphones and asked her what color it was. As she removed the lid it revealed pink paint.
"Starfire, that's pink…"
"Yes, I thought it would look nice with blue." I stared at her and repeated what I had just said.
"Starfire, that's pink…"
"You are repeating yourself."
"Yes. Pink?"
"You do not like it?" she asked, as she looked down. For some reason I couldn't help but accept. It bothered me, because I had never given in to a girl this easily before. I sighed.
"Alright, I'll use it… but just a little." Her face immediately lit up as she removed the lid and poured some into the paint tray. She dipped the roller into it and applied it to the wall. I opened my mouth to tell her I would rather wait to use it, but decided not to. When she stopped painting I looked at her. Her hand hovered in front of the wall and some of the paint was dripping onto the carpet. "Star, you're getting it on the carpet…" She looked at the paint roller and muttered an apology. I turned back to my work, but noticed she was staring at the roller with a grin. "Starfire?" I asked, worried for her sanity. It's not everyday you see a girl smiling at a paint roller. She turned to me with the grin still on her face. "Are you okay?" She stood from her kneeling position and advanced, still grinning. I started to worry that she had completely snapped as she approached me, armed with a pink paint roller and an evil grin. "S-st-starfire?" she continued her approach, stopping inches from my face. Her smile grew, if possibly, wider. I leaned back and gulped, the closeness didn't bother me; at least it wouldn't have if she wasn't grinning like a maniac! She leaned in closer. I tried to lean further back, but was stopped by the wall. She continued to grin and did something much unexpected. She kissed me full on the lips, well, more like a peck. A two second peck. The paint cans piled against the wall exploded. As she pulled away I could tell she had accomplished whatever the hell her psychotic scheme was. I could tell I was blushing a little bit. She smiled at me, but with a little less malice. Unfortunately, she obviously wasn't finished yet. She stepped back and mischief returned to her face. I closed my eyes in anticipation of her next psychotic action. I felt something wet press against my shirt. I opened my eyes in shock, worried that she may be doing something very wrong. I sighed with relief when I realized she had only painted the front of my shirt pink. I looked at her in confusion and realized that she had just painted my shirt pink! "Starfire!" I shouted. I grabbed a paint roller, toppling more paint cans. She squealed and fled the room the paint roller still in her hand. I took off after her and followed her into the living room. I chased her around the living room and eventually caught her…
Abel was interrupted by Starfire walking into the room. Abel turned to her and smiled.
"I missed you," he said. She smiled at him and walked further into the room.
"I missed you as well," she placed her hand on the wall and smiled at the memory of the kiss. She still hadn't figured out what had come over her, but didn't regret it in the least, "do you intend to finish what you started?" she asked indicating the room. Abel looked around the room and sighed. He was too tired to really do anything like that right now. He turned to Starfire to reply.
"Nah, I'm too beat. Maybe tomorrow. Wanna help me?"
"Oh yes, I would very much enjoy that… Are you injured?"
"What? No, no, I mean I'm tired."
"Oh… perhaps I could help you relax?"
"Sure." Starfire indicated him to make himself comfortable, so he entered his usual position: floating with his legs crossed. She went behind him and followed suit. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she pressed down on the pressure point. Abel groaned and let his head droop forward. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"It is a common Tamaranian tradition. When a warrior returns from battle or imprisonment, it is common for the companion of that warrior to massage his body. It is meant to ease the tension of combat, and…" She paused in her speech but not her actions. Abel just barely noticed; he looked over his shoulder at her.
"And?" he urged. Starfire blushed and the embarrassment washed over Abel. He raised his eyebrows and asked again. Starfire took a deep breath and continued.
"It can also be used to prepare both partners for intercourse…"
"Inter- oh…" This time it was Abel who blushed. He thought about this and turned to Starfire, interrupting her, with a smirk. She had her head bowed so didn't notice. "Which one were you trying to do?" Starfire looked up to find Abel still smirking. Starfire smiled and tackled him. Abel crashed into a pile of paint cans, which opened and poured their contents onto the Tamaranians. They hardly noticed and proceeded to playfully wrestle on the floor.
TT
"Did you hear that?" Cyborg asked as he paused the game. Beast Boy rolled his eyes.
"Dude, stop making excuses!" he shouted.
"I'm not!" Cyborg shouted back.
"This is the umpteenth you've paused the game!"
"But this time I heard something!"
"Well, maybe you should get your ears checked, because I didn't hear a crash from Abel's room!" Beast Boy stopped and scratched his head in confusion, "Maybe I did?"
"Yeah… Let's go check it out."
"What? What if Starfire's there? What if their… you know… getting it on?"
"Abel wouldn't do that, and neither would Starfire."
"How do you know?"
"I don't…"
"Okay… but what if?"
"Then… we'll have front row seats"
"Dude, that's sick and wrong! Let's go!" Beast Boy spun on his heel and headed toward Abel's room. Cyborg shook his head and followed. When they rounded the corner of the hall that contained Abel's room, they started to tiptoe. They found the door open and peeked in to see Starfire on top of Abel unbuttoning his shirt while trying to eat his face. Beast Boy nudged Cyborg and whispered.
"Hah, now you owe me twenty bucks!"
"No I don't, we didn't bet on it!" Cyborg whispered, but loudly.
"Shhh, they might hear us!" They looked back inside to see Abel glaring at them from the corner of his eye. He pointed at them and were thrown down the hall and landed in a heap with a crash.
TT
"What was that?" Starfire asked, panting a little. Abel smiled and replied just as breathlessly.
"Nothing. Hey, are you hungry?" Starfire nodded and then stood. She stretched her hand out to Abel. He grabbed it and pulled her back down. "I'm not," he said with a smirk. Starfire smiled and leaned forward but was interrupted by Abel's stomach growling. Starfire raised her eyebrows and grinned. Abel glared at his stomach and it growled again. He rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked at Starfire and grinned. "I'm hungry. You?" Starfire slapped his chest and stood. Abel levitated himself up and planted his feet on the ground. He stretched out his hand with a smile. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Starfire replied with a smile and took his hand. The exited the room to find Cyborg and Beast Boy piled against the wall. Starfire stared at them curiously when Abel casually greeted them. She shrugged it off, however, when Abel's hand slipped down from her waist.
TT
"Choose something dear to you."
"Something dear to me? Why?"
"It's easier to establish a portal if you have some memories attached to it. For instance, Abel's rosary was his mother's. My mirror belonged to my mother. Do you have anything that belonged to your mother or father?" Robin looked down. Raven knew he was sensitive about the issue of his parents. "I'm sorry. It doesn't have to be from your parents." Robin looked and smiled.
"Maybe it would be better… I'll be right back." He opened a portal behind him and stepped through. A few minutes later he returned with a box in his hand. It was the size of a wedding ring and Raven gulped. Robin noticed and laughed. "It's nothing like that; this was my mother's wedding ring. Robin opened the box to reveal the most amazing ring Raven had ever seen. The band was a braided design with jet, a ruby and an emerald imbedded in the center. Robin held it out to her and she took it carefully.
"Are you sure? If the spell goes wrong, this ring will be obliterated, taking this island with it."
"I'm confident in your abilities," he replied with a smile. Raven smiled back and sat down in the circle they had prepared and Robin followed suit.
"Do yo remember what to do?"
"Chant in Azarian, then English. Finally, we say 'Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos' to seal the spell."
"Correct, let's begin." Raven and Robin closed their eyes and chanted in Azarian, then English.
Gods above, we pray to thee
Gods below, we pray to thee
Gods between, we pray to thee
Grant us the power to enter the mind
Of the masked one before you
Through the vessel in the center
Of the circle of the Avatars
Gods above, we pray to thee
Gods below, we pray to thee
Gods between, we pray to thee
Grant us our request!
They opened their eyes to be blinded by the glowing ring. It hovered inches above the ground and slowly rotated. The light dimmed to a faint shimmer and Robin and Raven nodded to each other.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos!"
The ring spun faster, until it was a golden blur, it flared with blinding light for a split second and immediately dimmed. It slowed its rotation as it lowered itself to the ground. On the floor it pulsed for a while then ceased. Raven nodded to Robin and he picked it up. He held it in front of his face. He took Raven's hand and recited their mantra. They were pulled into Robin's mind and landed on a floating rock.
"This looks like my mind," Raven said, looking around in awe. Robin nodded.
"I guess that makes sense, I mean, our minds are connected." Raven nodded and turned around to examine the area behind them to find that a path had formed leading to a gate. She tapped Robin on the shoulder and they followed the path through the gate. They were astonished at what they saw. In front of them was a large grassy field with trees every few yards.
"Happy," Raven stated simply.
"Huh?" Robin asked. He turned back to the scene and came face to face with himself. The clone looked exactly like him in every way except that the inside of his cape was light blue.
"Hey guys! I never thought I'd see you here." He said with an enormous smile. Robin leaned back to lessen the damage to his ears.
"Right… where are the others?" Robin immediately regretted asking this because Happy burst into laughter and rolled in the grass. Robin and Raven stared as he stood; he put his fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle.
"I didn't know you could do that," Raven said with her fingers in her ears. Robin shrugged as he replied.
"Never had a reason to." Their conversation was interrupted by the other emotions arriving. Impatience was the first arrive, in his orange lined cape.
"Do have to do that so loud?" he shouted. Happy was unfazed by this and indignantly replied with his arms crossed and nose in the air.
"Yes." Impatience went into some sort of convulsion in his attempt not to strangle Happy. Intelligence, in darker blue, appeared next with a book tucked into the nook of his elbow.
"Hello, Robin. Raven. It is good to see you."
"Confusing, but okay," Robin said. Raven glanced at him and smiled. She had felt the same way the first time she had done this. Next was Courage, in pink. "Pink?" Raven asked. It unsettled both her and Robin when he replied with Courage in unison.
"It takes a true man to wear pink." Before anyone could say anything else, Love appeared, in a lighter pink than Courage's.
"Raven?" Robin gasped.
"What?"
"Huh? No, I mean Raven," he said pointing to Love. Raven turned to Love and gasped. Love was in the form of herself. Love smiled.
"Yes. Some emotions have people or animals attached to them and take the form of that person or animal. One apparition can sometimes represent to related emotions. For instance…" Intelligence explained as Slade appeared next to Love. Robin clenched his fists, but restrained, knowing that this was only a representation. This Slade was an exact replica of the real Slade except for the scratch that came over the single eye and to the right side of the mask. "This is Rage and Wrath combined. Another example…" Intelligence continued as Red X appeared nest to Rage/Wrath, with his head hung, "Humiliation and Shame. Love also represents Lust."
TT
"Where are Rob and sis?" Abel asked. Starfire looked up at him and shrugged. Abel looked at the clock. It was five o'clock. "They've been gone for three hours!"
"Do not worry, Love," Abel raised his eyebrow. She had never called him that before. He shrugged and continued to worry. With a sigh he tried to reach them through their telepathic connection.
'Rea? Robin?' he projected.
'What?' Raven replied.
'Where are you guys?'
'Robin's mind, why?'
'Oh, you've established a portal?'
'Of course not! We jumped through my nose!' Robin replied.
'Ha-ha. Don't stay too long. Eventually Cy and BB will stop arguing over dinner.'
'Order a pizza,' Raven projected.
'We had pizza yesterday… and the day before that… and the day before that… and the week before that…'
'So we'll have another pizza. Order it from another delivery service or something!' Raven shouted, losing patience.
'We've ordered from every pizza place in the county.'
'Get Chinese, then!'
'Chinese it is. Enjoy your gallivanting through Rob's mind,' with that Abel turned in the direction of the kitchen and shouted. "Hey, we're getting Chinese!" the combatants did not hear, however, and continued their squabble. Abel shrugged and felt Starfire tighten her grip on his shirt. He turned to ask her what was wrong but was answered by the portal above their coffee table. "Go!" Abel whispered the order and he and Starfire immediately moved into fighting positions, hands and eyes glowing. Before either of them could react, a young man with familiar hair, eyes, and other such features, stepped through. Starfire gasped. Abel blinked as he watched vaguely familiar person step through the portal, onto the coffee table and onto the floor. The stranger had a bundle in his arms.
"Call the others," he said; his voice wasn't much different from Abel's. Abel slowly turned to the kitchen.
"C-c-cyborg, Beast Boy, come into the living room, please!"
"Hang on, Abe!" Behind Abel the stranger scrunched his face.
"I hate it when they call me that!"
"Now, dammit!" he shouted, his voice deepening. Cyborg and Beast Boy scampered into the living room, in case Abel decided to take a leaf out of his sister's book and go medieval on them.
"We're here! Please don't hurt us!" Beast Boy shouted, on his knees with his hands clasped in a praying position. He noticed the stranger in the living room and immediately forgot his groveling. "hoozat?"
"I'll explain soon," the stranger replied. Beast Boy and Cyborg jumped at how much he sounded like Abel. He disregarded their reaction and turned to Abel, "Robin and Raven?"
"Their, uh… in Robin's mind…" the older Abel's jaw dropped.
"I went back that far?" in the background Cyborg and Beast Boy were still trying to put two and two together. When it finally dawned on them, it did so ruthlessly.
"Is that…" they were ignored, however, as Abel continued to talk to the stranger.
"What's in the bundle?"
"I'll explain when everyone's here."
"It is!" Cyborg started.
"That's Abel!" Beast Boy confirmed.