Chapter 5

Nightstar's POV:

"Everyone needs to leave the gym. Now!" Growled Changeling. Without question, Stinger and Darkstar raced out of the gym. Crow followed them after collecting his younger sister, leaving the rest of the Logan's and myself. I followed after my team, but stopped at the door. I turned to Changeling and asked, "Are you sure I can't stay? She's my teammate and I think this was partially my fault. I accidentally hit her with one of my star bolts. And I was the one that let her spar in the first place." I looked down my feet, unashamed of my mistakes. Changeling's face softened, but his voice was still filled with authority.
"No Mar'i. This wasn't your fault. Marie is old enough to know better. Go with the rest of your team and wait in the main room. We'll be there soon."
I didn't dare to argue any further. I flew out of the gym doors and went to find my team in the main room. There's only a handful of people that I let have authority over me, two of them were back in the gym.

Sparrow POV:

As quick as it came the dark magic left. I spun around to find its source. My eyes landed on my parents and our eyes locked. My mother's eyes started to glow white and she slowly approached me. Our eyes never broke the stare, but my mother kept coming at me, slow and steady. When she was close enough to touch me, she extended her hand out and very carefully touched my head. I instantly felt her calm, healing aura wash over me. My eyes shut and a fell to my knees, taking my mother with me. She held me in her arms as tears pushed their way out my, now normal, eyes and down my face. Mother put one hand on my head and the other wrapped tighter around my shaking body. My head was resting on her shoulder and my breathing started to hitch. My instincts sensed my dad moving toward us and I looked up to see his worried face looking back at me. I moved away from Mom and stood up, still facing my dad. I was still shaking, so I held myself as I walked around Mom and right into my father's embrace. Mom always said that she felt safest in my dad's arms and I did too. Dad was our family's safe haven. He could be furious with one of us, but still offer his life-saving hugs. After a moment I stopped crying and returned his hug. I wanted to stay like that forever, but my dad gently pushed me back so that I was standing in front of him. From the look on his face I could tell our little moment was over.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Honey, but I'm also very disappointed in you for letting it happen." Dad said with a serious tone.
"Yes Marie, we are both very disappointed. Tell us, when was the last time you meditated?" Mom spoke for the first time. I could tell she too was fighting back her rage.
"I...I...um...Monday?" I stuttered.
"Monday! It's Sunday! You're telling me you haven't meditated for a week?!" Mom yelled.
"Well...um...yeah." I replied sheepishly, looking down at my feet. Mom started pinching the bridge of her nose with her right hand, her left arm wrapped around herself. Dad took this a sign to intervene.
"Go to your room, Marie. We all need to take a breather right now."
"And you better be either meditating or sleeping when we come for you." Mom sternly added.
I nodded my head and replied, "Yes ma'am," before using my powers to teleport back to my room. I collapsed on my bed and let out a huge sigh. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the rare silence. Rage taking over took a lot out of me, but I knew what I needed most was meditation. I crawled on my bed and sat crisscross. With a deep breath, I shut my eyes and cleared my mind. "Azerath, Mentrion, Zinthos." "Azerath, Mentrion, Zinthos."

Nightstar's POV:

"This is entirely my fault! I should have listened to you Crow. Heck, I should have known on my own that something was up with Sparrow! What kind of leader am I if I can't even tell when someone on my team is going crazy?" I ranted while pacing the living room floor in front of the couch. Crow was on one end, followed by his younger sister, Arella, then Stinger, and Darkstar who was on the other end.
"She isn't going crazy, Nightstar. She lost control of her powers. There's a difference." Replied Crow in his usual monotone.
"She seemed to have control of her powers when she blasted me into that wall!" I countered.
"That wasn't her. That was Rage." Crow stated like it made everything clear.
"Who?!"
"Rage. Our magical powers run on our emotions, so to help control them our mom taught us how to separate our different emotions. We call them emonticlones. Rage is the hardest one to control. Without proper meditation, Rage can escape, like she did today with Sparrow." Everyone was now listening intently, trying to imagine what Crow was explaining. It's rare for the twins to share knowledge on their powers and it was nice to finally understand what goes on during their meditation.
"So you meditate to control this "Rage" person and if you don't she takes over your minds?" Darkstar clarifies.
"Well, we meditate to control all of our emotions and Rage is an emotion, not a person. Otherwise, yeah your right."
"Oh! So that's why you and your folks are always so bent on getting her to meditate!" Stinger exclaimed.
"Pretty much." Crow replied.
"Will she be ok?" Darkstar asked, concerned for his secret crush.
"Yeah, she'll be fine. As long as Mother doesn't kill her first." As if on cue, Raven and Changeling entered the main room. Raven looked as if she had been crying earlier, but other than that both their faces were unreadable.
"Crow, can your mother go to your room to meditate?" Asked Changeling.
"Um...yeah, sure. You remember which one it is?" Raven gave a simple nod and just like that she was gone.
"Thanks son." Thanked Changeling.
"No problem, Dad, but is everything ok?"
"Yeah everything's ok. Both your mom and sister are a bit drained, but nothing some meditation can't fix." Crow nodded in response. "You kids got our rooms ready yet?" Changeling continued.
"Yes sir. Third floor." I replied.
"Right, Arella, can you bring me back to that hotel we were staying at? The one in Sydney, Australia?"
"Yes Daddy." Arella agreed and slid off the couch to meet her dad. She grabbed his hand and left through a portal.
"Why is he going back? They just got here!" Questioned Stinger.
"He's getting their stuff. I kind of sent an emergency call to them. Once my connection with Sparrow broke, I knew what was happening and called them telepathically." Crow answered.
"Wait a second! You called them here?" I accused.
"Well yeah, I had too. Only Mother knows how to snap one of us out of it."
"How do you know that? We could have handled it ourselves, without them knowing!"
"You wanted me to risk the team's safety, just so you could look perfect to your father and the other titans?"
"We could have handled it! And the Titans wouldn't have to get involved! You had no right to call them here without my permission!"
"You're PERMISSION?! I have every right to call for help from my PARENTS whenever I feel it necessary! I will not let your "daddy problems" effect my friend's and sister's safety!" Crow lost his temper and his eyes flashed red for a split second. I stepped back, shock evident on my face. Crow almost never lost his temper. He was always the most calm and collected person I knew and here he was, yelling at me. He stood up off the couch and stormed off towards his room.
"Now I need to meditate." He muttered and was gone.
"Nice going, Sis. Now we got three, rage-induced, meta-humans in the tower." Darkstar said sarcastically while glaring at me."