Chapter 6

Spaceship

Four of the five Titans were all situated in a large mechanical room, much like their basement. However, the "room" was filled with medium boxed crates that contained enough food and water to last them up to ten weeks. There was also enough fuel for the T-ship for it to be reloaded two more times. Not knowing how long their trip would take, Robin had spoken to the mayor and informed him that a replacement team would be over within the hour to take care of the city. Kid Flash, Jinx, and Bumblebee were going to come to their Tower and watch over the city. It wasn't much but they certainly were skilled. Bumblebee could be used for her leadership and quick thinking; Kid Flash would be able to make a great distraction and confuse their enemies; Jinx's hexes and sense of "bad luck" were a force to be reckoned with.

"Is everything in order for take-off yet? You're taking too long."

"Man, I keep on telling you that I'M ALMOST DONE! AS IN, WAIT ONE MINUTE INSTEAD OF DISTRACTING ME!"

"WELL IF YOU HAD LISTENED TO ME EARLIER AND DONE WHAT YOU WERE TOLD THEN WE WOULDN'T BE HERE NOW WOULD WE?!"

"HEY MAN! I ALREADY DOUBLE-CHECKED EVERYTHING BUT YOU WERE THE ONE THAT INSISTED ON ANOTHER DAMN CHECK!"

"Calm down you two, honestly," Raven muttered.

"Knowing Robin and how he feels for Star, he can't calm down due to the fact that the girl of his dreams is drifting off into a galaxy far, far away. Get it, because of Star Wars? Funny right?" Beastboy, bored by the amount of time that it was taking for them to leave, decided to tell some "jokes", which seemed to mostly annoy Raven instead of making her laugh.

Emotions were running wild and Raven could feel each and every one of them. Beastboy had nothing else to do except make horrible puns while the other two male Titans of the team were bickering. Cyborg was annoyed by Robin who had insisted that he checked everything three times, just to make sure that everything was ready before they left. Robin felt anger towards Cyborg who, in his eyes, was taking his time and doing things too slow. He felt as though no one cared about the fact that Starfire had left them and how she could already be at the Gordanian's ship by now. As offended by that thought as she was, Raven decided to calm herself and began to meditate while chanting her mantra. However, there was an annoying sound in the distance attempting to get her attention by counting terrible jokes. Without any emotion and patience in her voice, the empath opened her eyes and stared the green teenager down.

"If you so much as think about telling another joke, I swear to Azar that I will send you to another dimension that will lead to your internal end." Usually threats like these would only scare her victims, but Beastboy felt that and much more. He felt melancholy at the fact that she had threatened to send him to a place that would chew him up. She had threatened to kill him. Just because of a bad joke. Of course, there was usually a cycle that occurred between the two: Beastboy would make a terrible joke, Raven would get upset and threaten him with a beating or smack him upside his head, and Beastboy would brush it off as nothing. Somehow, this time seemed different. There was a fire in her eyes that showed her seriousness and a glint of relief that was hidden beneath the anger.

Being an empath allowed Raven to feel emotions from everyone around her and the one that struck her the most at the moment was Beastboy's. Wretchedness. Fear. She couldn't take it. She had hurt him. Before she was able to apologize, the changeling had spoken up but his voice sounded broken.

"I'm, uh, I'm sorry I bothered you Raven. Don't worry. I won't bother you with my jokes anymore." Without another glance, he had walked towards the T-ship, the machine they were going to leave in, and jumped in his designated seat.

Shit. You went too far Raven. Idiot.

More thoughts like those flooded her mind but Robin didn't allow her to process them as he had yelled at her to come and get in the ship. They were ready to leave.

After everyone was settled in, Robin flicked on some switches and looked at his controls twice to see if they were in order before preparing to take-off. When everything seemed to be suitable, he began the chant to make sure that everything was in working order for the other parts of the ship. "Main power: online."

"Defensive systems: active."

"Oxygen tanks: at maximum."

"Fusion thrusters: ready to fire."

"Titans, launch!" Large doors that were on the ceiling opened up and showed the dark night sky. The engines roared and soon enough, fire exploded out of T-ship and they blasted off to bring back their friend.

The Tamaranian had drifted off into the depths of space, taking her time, hoping that maybe she would wake up from a dream. No, a nightmare. Unfortunately for her, she was able to see a small object in the distance. It was a ship and she could tell by the structure of it that it belonged to a Gordanian ship. Tears began to surface and some had managed to escape as they formed small globs of water and remained in space.

Starfire cast one last look back at the blue and green planet that she had become so fond of over the years and hiccupped a sob. Today was the beginning of the end for her. Since the first time she was captured by the barbaric aliens, she had dreamed of the day when she would escape and be free for the rest of her life. She thanked X'hal the day her dream came true and was happy that she was able to live it, even if it was for a few short years. She was grateful for the memories that she would cherish for the rest of her days, which seemed to come soon based on the fact that she would be spending the rest of her life with those lizards. She would rather much prefer to spend the

Do not be selfish. It is better to sacrifice one life if it means the survival of others. I have already endured them and I know what they will do. This is my destiny and I must accept it. Goodbye Earth. Goodbye Tamaran. Goodbye friends. Farewell, my dear Robin.

Wiping away the tears for the last time, the brave alien turned her facial expression into a stoic one and unconsciously picked up her pace making the size of the Gordanian ship seem larger.

Just as she was a couple of yards away, she noticed that there was an odd shape to it. At first, it came off as a bulky structure with a golden tone to it. There was a small flat surface towards the bottom of it that served the purpose of being a take-off was new. She didn't remember anything like that when she was at the ship all those years ago. Starfire had memorized every inch of the spaceship for any escape routes. The memory of those itineraries flashed throughout her mind and yet she couldn't help herself from replaying everything that happened to her before she landed on the ship. All of the experiments, needles, grotesque hands that ran over her body, exhaustion overcoming her body and the whips that never stopped making contact with her skin. Cuts, bruises, blood covering her person.

Psions.

The Tamaranian shuddered at the memory and held back the tears. When she had left Tamaran, as a treaty to protect her planet, she had become a warrior who was trained by the warlords of Okarra and learned tactics to help herself from losing to the enemy. She was quite skilled with a sword and hand-to-hand contact. Even though she never used it, based off of her powers, Starfire could still be a threat.

When the aliens began their experiments, there were a numerical amount of times when she wanted to cry herself to sleep and let out the tears before the experiments began once again. But she never let herself. To let those monsters see her in one of her weakest moments was something that she never wanted them to witness.

I did not allow myself when I was younger and this time will be no exception. I have grown. I am stronger, braver, I am a Titan and Titans do not lose. I will not lose this battle.

With one last intake of breath, Starfire flew over to the spaceship and made her descent.

I had an argument with my mom when she saw me writing and said that it was, "a waste of time". I got upset and continued to write no matter what she said. I don't care if she approves or not, if I like to write then I will. It's fun, helps your imagination run wild, and helps you escape from everyday life. And I know that we all need that. Anyway, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to write now since she might have my laptop from now on but I'll try the best I can.

In the beginning of the chapter, I wrote about the mayor and all of the things that had to go with the T-ship and everything else. I tried my best to describe the Gordanian ship and the other stuff that had some imagination to deal with. Please tell me what I can do to help you picture something in your head because we all know that I need to improve. Future chapters will have to deal with description and I want to be ready for it.

Again, sorry for the delay. I had most of this chapter done already but responsibilities and such wouldn't let me from finishing the chapter. I finished this on my camping trip which is one of those "farewell summer" things. I'm starting school next week so I'm hoping that I can keep up with writing and schoolwork. Anyway, thank you for your patience.

Always yours,

light is in the dark