Teen Titans, Too!
By: A J
(Standard Disclaimer Applies)
"How Aldarn almost died"
Dear Diary,
I was sitting with Miranda in our private 'Girls Only!' room, bawling my eyes out. "Come on, Princess," she said soothingly, patting my shoulder. I wailed louder, and Miranda cringed. She hated seeing me cry. "Even you couldn't have known the two of them would end up dueling over the Rebel leadership."
"But it's all my fault anyway!" I moaned. "Now Aldarn's laying in the hospice enclave, almost dead from that fall, and Caleb's run off to find the Guardians to save his life, and he may not hold out, and it's all my fault!"
"Actually …" Miranda stepped away from me, and looked out the tower window. "It's Cedric's fault." Her voice was barely a whisper, but it fell between two of my more gut-wracking sobs, so I just caught it.
"What?" I managed to gulp out. She looked back guiltily.
"Cedric put a charm on the bags of grain you were giving to the Rebels. It was to make them want to side with you … and Phobos. The Prince had him do it." She sniffled for a minute, then sneezed. "How I envy you mammals. What I wouldn't give to be able to cry out my shames and secrets like you do, Elyon." She shimmered her form back into that of a giant four-legged spider, and skittered up the wall to mope in the hollow of the tower's ceiling. I'd known the first morning after we met that she wasn't human, but it had taken almost a week of cajoling before she'd shown me any of her other forms. So far, I'd seen her as the spider, a large bird with a wicked serrated beak, and once, while we were swimming, a swordfish-like creature.
"Then Caleb was right about my brother all along?" I couldn't believe it yet. All this time, with Phobos telling me that the Rebels were just that, troublemakers and thieves, and that the Guardians were their magical strong-arm (when I knew very well that Cornelia would never stoop to being a bully, magical or otherwise!), he'd been the true source of the grief of our people. Wrestling with the horrible idea, I couldn't fight it off anymore. My brother was the bad guy. "Alright. Miranda, I've only got one option. Like they say on 'The Sopranos'. It's time to clean up my house."
Miranda dropped on a gossamer thread next to me and shimmered back to human form. "What do you mean, Princess?"
"If my own brother is the problem, then I'm gonna have to become the solution. I realize he set you up as a spy to keep track of me. Now, I'm going to ask you something really dangerous. Will you spy on him? For me?"
"You want me … t - to be a … d - double agent?" she squeaked. I nodded. If we were to have any chance of ending the internecine (Ha! Take THAT, English class!) war in Meridian, we'd have to start in the palace itself. Miranda aside, I knew I was too closely watched by the rest of the staff … for now. Once this was settled, I'd figure out the rest.
When she didn't respond after almost a minute, I said "Well?"
Her face screwed up in distress for a moment. Then … "Okay." I pulled her into a hug.
"Thank you; Thank you; Thank you, Miranda! Now …" I continued, putting us back to arm's length. "What can we do to help Aldarn?"
"His father is our head metallurgist. Maybe he can help. He hasn't even heard about the fight, yet."
"His own father wasn't told?" Then I had to backtrack. "What's a metallurgist?"
"A metal magician. They're the ones who make our enchanted weapons. And he wasn't told because, if he found out his own son was one of the Rebels, well, Prince Phobos didn't want his work compromised …" I shuddered at that. It sounded too close to what the Guardians had tried to do, in not telling me the truth when they could.
"That changes now. As your first act as my secret double agent, I want you to tell him the truth about his son, and see if he can help us save Aldarn."
"Yes, your Majesty," Miranda replied with a grin. It got wider as she said, "This is gonna be fun." Then she disappeared out the window.