As midnight approached, the once vibrant and lively streets of the city quickly cleared as residents returned home and rested up for another day. Revving down the abandoned streets, a bright red motorcycle returned its rider- a young man- home, in exchange for its rightful place in the warm garage. Angered, regretful, and tired, the young man walked out of the garage, turning off the light as he exited, and quietly continued up the stairs to his room. Down the main hall he walked, dragging his feet slightly; he tried his best to straighten up and put on his usual demeanor of strength and confident bravery in response to the footsteps approaching around the corner- Starfire.
"Robin, you have returned!" She chirped happily once she laid eyes on her friend, flying forward to greet him after his quest. After the two exchanged smiles- Robin's not nearly as sincere as Star's- the cheerful Tamaranean began searching around and behind her friend.
"Star," the Boy Wonder asked in confusion. "What are you looking for?"
"Where is Apollo?" she replied innocently. "You said you would find her and bring her home with you. Has she already retired to her room?" Starfire asked, anxiously preparing to fly down the hall and greet their returning member.
"Uh, Star," Robin interrupted grabbing her hand before she could leave. "She's not in her room." Still anxious to see Apollo, Starfire then assumed that she would be in the common room watching TV; but again this assumption was dismissed. "She's not here," Robin uttered under his breath.
Confused, Starfire came down from her elated floating. "I do not understand. What do you mean she is not here?" she asked sadly. "You said that you would not return until you found her, and yet you are here- without her?" She soon caught on to his anger-driven distress. "Where is she?"
"I found her," Robin quickly responded. "She's just… not coming back."
Robin's POV
"Not coming back?" she repeated to me; as I'd expected, it was even harder to hear the second time. 'Did she have to rub it in even further?' "But, I don't-" I couldn't hear it again, frustrated, I looked at Starfire one last time before brushing past her and continuing down the hall to my room.
'She's gone,' I thought to myself. 'Gone! And there's nothing I can do about it. She had every reason- every right- to leave; I just wish I could've given enough of a reason for her to stay.' As I finally came to the end of the hall I placed my hand on my door to push it open, but something managed to stop me. I knew what watched me from across the way; the door had been left open and the light was still on. At first I wanted to just ignore it- leave everything as it was: alone- like we treated her… like I left her; but something possessed me to turn around and go inside, just to turn off the light, then I'd be out of there forever. If anything, we could always turn it back into a guest room; maybe start tomorrow. I'm sure Cyborg won't mind- the sooner the better.
Once inside, I walked over to the large silver floor lamp by the desk and put my finger on the switch. Taking one final look around the room, I couldn't help but feel guilty as my eyes focused on the communicator she had left on the desk. I reached over and picked it up, examining its yellow case; she only used it maybe three or four times. "I'm sorry," I said to myself as I began to put the object back down on the desktop. Upon doing so, something else managed to catch my eye, amongst all the papers and drawings she'd left behind, one picture sitting in her open sketchbook seemed to stand out from the others. I picked up the book to get a closer look; unlike the rest of her sketches, this one wasn't of Red X, a ring, or a robber, it was a picture of the moon- shining over the roof of the tower; and sitting on the roof were two little shadows looking up into the sky. Around the moon- like a mix of clouds and stars- rested a series of words, 'A poem?' I thought to myself. 'No, she'd never write anything like that. It has to be some kind of message; nothings that simple with Apollo.'
Nothing was written in proper paragraphs or lines, so I had to do my best to decipher the few words she left on the page: "No, dark, matter, I, and lonely" written in black marker on one half of the page; "Hope, kindness, peace, world, light, and your," scattered on the other side with a silver-white pen. I stared at the jumbled mixture of words trying to make sense and find their meaning. She had a reason for this- I know it! I just wish I knew what it was. 'Why does she always have to make things so elaborate?' (That's one thing she and Slade definitely have in common…) I studied the page a moment longer, the white half of the moon and the silver letters shining over the shaded-in sky. Though it was just a drawing, it all looked so real, like it did whenever we- 'The moon!' I immediately thought to myself as I walked over to the large glass wall and opened the curtains to see the white first quarter shining in the sky overhead. Then it hit me; I looked back down at the image in my hand focusing on the two shadows sitting on the roof. Every day Apollo and I would sit outside and watch the sunrise, and every night- even if it wasn't there- we would sit on the roof and look at the moon together; we were the shadows! These words had to be a message- for me!
Charged with energy I rushed out of her room, the drawing still in my hand, the words buzzing in my head. As I made my way across the hall to my room, I accidently bumped into Beast Boy. Quickly I apologized and flung my door open, only to shut it just as quickly when I was inside. This wasn't over yet and I wouldn't let it end; not until I knew what this meant…
Beast Boy's POV
Slowly dragging myself to my room, I tried my best to ignore Cyborg's stupid victory scream, 'Dude, so what if you beat me in Robot Monkeys 3… twelve times in a row.' It's not like you beat me thirteen ti- "Uh," I grunted under my breath as Robin brushed past me. He's sure in a hurry; I wonder where he's been all this time? Probably still wasting his time trying to find Apollo. 'What's the big deal? The girl left; and obviously she doesn't want to be found,' I thought to myself as I saw his door slam shut. 'Why doesn't he get it?' As I shrug off Robin and prepare to keep walking, I notice the light's still on in Apollo's old room. I walk through the doorway and look around; maybe she left some of her gadgets and stuff here. DUDE, I hope she left that psychic bracelet thingy! 'I wonder if can turn into a pair of toenail clippers?'
I start searching her desk and drawers, but there's nothing here but some old papers and those weird drawings. I pick up the sketch she made of me, and it actually is really good, 'I still can't believe she had it on a punching bag!' I think to myself as I put it back on the desk and continue to go through the rest of the pictures again. As I continue to flip through them I notice that one of them has a huge rip in the corner. I pick that one out and get a good look at it; there's a picture of a lady with black hair, dressed in red with black boots and gloves. Her arms are all stretched in crazy swirls and her legs are longer than the rest of her body- kinda like Elastigirl. 'Elastigirl…' the Doom Patrol- my first real team, before… I stop and listen as Raven passes by the door. 'This is my team now,' I tell myself as I look back down at the page. There's no reason to remember anything from the past. That was then and this is now; now there's no need to worry about criminals like The Brain and Monsieur Mallah and… Madame Rouge! Immediately I focus on the page in front of me remembering everything that Apollo said before she ran away. It all fits, everything she told us, everything she tried to explain, she was telling us the truth! I don't know why I didn't catch on before. 'Why didn't I listen? Why didn't I defend her- believe her?' Robin was right; we didn't want to believe her. 'What was our problem?' We treated her like she was still a bad guy, an enemy; and now- because of how jerky everyone's been- we're missing a teammate. I sat and stared at the drawing a moment longer before dropping all the other papers and running to get the guys- they have to know about this! Quickly I sprung to my feet and ran out of the room, the drawing still in my hand; but before I could say anything the alarm went off- 'Trouble!'
Robin's POV (Occurring simultaneously with Beast Boy's POV)
I sat at my desk and studied the words on the page. As time continued to past, I grew even more angry when I still was unable to figure out the puzzle. "What are you trying to say?" I continued to stare down at the picture- a pen in my hand scribbling down the words. 'Maybe I'm thinking too far into this?' I thought to myself. Though Apollo was crafty, she wouldn't make this that hard to figure out. I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes, trying to figure her out- determine what was going through her mind when she drew this. 'Maybe this was picture she didn't want me to see the other day. Maybe it's still not finished?' I looked down at the random words- analyzing the gaps left between them, the color of the words- half were white- like the moon. The other half was black- like the night sky. 'Maybe they're colored coded?' Just then I was hit with an epiphany; I began to scribble down the words on a piece of paper- the black words on one side, the white on the other. Once they were separated I began to reexamine the fragments and try my best to piece them together. "No, Dark, Matter, I, Lonely… Hope, Kindness, Peace, Light, Your?" No matter how many times I read it, it still made no sense. 'There have to be missing words.' I start to fill in the blanks to the best of my ability; but no matter- 'No; Matter… No matter!' I jot the first two words down on the paper. 'Now the other half of the words!' "Hope your? Your hope? Your kindness? Your peace; your light; your-" Ugh! This was just too much; I had enough on my mind already!
Frustrated, I stared down at the drawing- my hands over my head. 'I'm staring down at a picture of the moon, when I could've been up on the roof with her right now looking at the real thing,' I thought to myself as I stared at the partially present sphere- one side of it lit, the other half in the dark; half white, half black… 'THAT'S IT!' Instantly I understood the colors, the moon, Apollo! I began to write down the words again, this time I was sure what I was writing would be right! Within seconds I had the words in the correct order, 'Now I just have to fill in the blanks!' A few more minutes and I should be- suddenly the great red light began to flash in my room; the alert siren soon followed. 'Trouble!' immediately I dropped what I was doing and ran towards my door. Once in the hall I looked around for the others as they too made their way to the common room to see what was wrong. Before joining them, I paused for a second and looked into the still open room across the hall; angered, I turned my head and started toward the common room. As I ran down the hall, I saw Beast Boy at my left, carrying a sheet of paper in his hand. Too consumed by the sirens I sped past him and burst through the doors and down to the main monitor where Raven had already pulled up an image of the targeted destination- Wayne Enterprises! "Who is it?" I asked, placing my hand on the back of her chair as I scanned the surveillance recordings. At first she didn't answer me- too into the videos.
"Dudes!" shouted Beast Boy as he ran into the room still holding the paper. We all ignored him and focused our attention on the apparent break-in.
"Well?" I asked again, determined to know who we were dealing with. Again there was no answer. As Raven spun her chair to face me- a calm but apologetic look on her face- I waited for her to respond, when she was cut off but Cyborg.
"Here are two familiar faces," he said as he pulled up an image from one of the cameras- Red X and… "No…"
*Well what do you think? My final chapter should be up in a few days. So far this definitely seems to be my best story and I credit that to my readers. Thank you for the support I really appreciate it! 3 Especially readers like pinklipslittlehips, 88dragon06, and Zozeebobs. You guys made writing this fic that much more fun and for that I thank you (BIG hugs). Again, I'll update soon; and as always… PLEASE review =D*
Oh and FYI- for those of you who don't know, 'First Quarter' is one of the phases of the moon- when it's half black and half white. I love the moon so I decided to show my "lunar learning" by giving an actual term to describe it. (Yeah I know, I'm a dork… and PROUD of it! BOOYAH!)