Dick gaped at her, still not quite catching up with the turn of events.
Koriand'r nodded solemnly, the glow in her eyes dimming. "I…was…" she said softly, "yes. But I do not think I am anymore, though."
"You could have mentioned that before."
"I did not wish to complicate the situation further."
"Yeah, but still…a princess…" He ran a hand absently through his hair, making it stand at all angles, his blue eyes wide as he stared at her.
She looked down, biting the corner of her lip. She was never meant to have ruled, that was her sister's burden to bear, but the weight of the crown had still pressed on her shoulders. Every movement, every action, scrutinized and dissected by the court, every choice already decided for her. Her entire life given in service to her people. She had never imagined a world where she would be free of it, but now…
"My parent's throne is no more," she whispered. "I am just…me, now." She shook her head and reached up to tug at the braid pinned around her head, slowly uncoiling it and running her fingers through the softly glowing mess until it untangled. Crimson waves settled around her shoulders, falling well past the middle of her back, each strand flickering with a multitude of colors. She shrugged and peeked back up at them, "just Kori."
She twirled the incandescent end of a lock of hair around her fingers. "You all risked your lives for me, and I do not understand why…but…Thank you," she said fervently, finally looking up and meeting them each in the eye.
And then her eyes once more landed on Dick, still standing stunned beside her. "Is it…alright?" she asked nervously, "that I wish to stay?"
"Yeah…" His voice came out dazed, staring blankly at her face. Then he flushed, bright spots of pink burning on each cheek, and cleared his throat. "I mean—uh—"
"Boy's hopeless," Vic muttered, and Gar snorted. Raven rolled her eyes.
Dick shot the three of them a dirty look, then turned back to Kori. He stuck his hand out towards her with a smile. "Welcome to the team."
She beamed at him, her hair and eyes glowing with a flare of brilliant light, and grabbed his hand in both of hers, her golden skin warm. Then she threw both her arms around him.
"Thank you!" She lifted him up off his feet in a bone-crushing hug, his face contorted in a grimace.
"Ouch—uh, Star?"
"Oops, apologies!" She let him go immediately, her grin undiminished. "Oh! This is wonderful! We must concoct a celebratory Glorg at once!" She looked around the enormous open room of the Tower, scrutinizing the shiny appliances in the kitchen. "Where do you keep the fungus? I am ravenous."
Dick rubbed his chest where she had grabbed him, trying to get his lungs to expand again, a look of horror growing on his face. "Uh…the kitchen's over here, but we don't have any fungus…"
Victor shuddered, then reached out an arm to help support Gar's weight, towing him after Dick and Kori towards the kitchen. "Come on grass-stain, I'm making breakfast."
"Uh…does that sound vegetarian to you?" Gar asked nervously, walking carefully with Vic around the couch, only a slight limp in his steps.
"Vegetarian?" Vic said in mock outrage. "Nah-ah! No vegetarian, hippie shit in this kitchen. Real men eat meat."
"Dude! I turn into most of those animals!"
"The kitchen's fully stocked, we can make whatever you want!" Dick shouted, nervously trying to steer a very enthusiastic alien away from the oven.
Raven trailed after them, her steps slow, hesitant. Relief poured out from them, falling on her skin like the rays of sunlight that were filtering in through the wall of glass, their bodies and minds finally relaxing, their ordeal over. Exhaustion lurked in the background, a sleepy heaviness swirling through the air, but it was overshadowed by a bright, zinging excitement. A spark growing and building inside all four of them.
But the warmth, the feeling, it didn't really permeate her skin. She could feel it in the others, but her own body just felt…empty.
She came to a stop, standing alone at one end of the couch, staring at them. Already so comfortable with each other, so happy, the room filled with light. She looked down, at the shadows fluttering around her. The darkness clung to her, too deep to be natural, the sunlight not quite reaching her.
Darkness and destruction. Those were her gifts.
She didn't belong here.
The brightness in the room turned cold and brittle. Kori's exclamations of excitement over the various foods in the fridge drifted towards her as if from far away, the boys' banter becoming flat, hollow. The shadows darkened around her, tucking in close.
She turned away.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Victor's voice stopped her, his heavy footsteps muffled by the carpet as he marched back towards her.
She turned back to face him as the others came back out of the kitchen, keeping her face blank. "You don't really need me here anymore," she shrugged, unable to look at him, to show how desperately the words hurt. "You did it. City saved, aliens gone, princess rescued…" She took a step back.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Gar said quickly, his face falling.
Dick moved towards her, frowning, blue eyes hard. He had removed the top half of his armored suit and his belt, a tight fitting, black long-sleeve shirt on beneath it. The others followed after him, crowding around her. "Raven, don't start this again," he said, shaking his head. "We couldn't have done this—any of this—without you."
"That doesn't change anything," Raven said quietly.
She met his eyes and he caught the briefest flash of emotion before she wiped it away. Something in his chest pulled, and a familiar, heavy, creeping numbness spread through his body. A feeling he instantly recognized, and had never wanted to feel again. Then it was gone just as suddenly as it had appeared, vanished like it had never even been there. And he realized that it hadn't really come from him at all.
She dropped her eyes, clamping down on the emotions spilling out of her, her shoulders curving inwards. "I'm not a good choice for...whatever this is…"
"Raven—"
"No," she snapped. "I know you think that there is just goodness and rainbows and sunshine inside everybody, but that's not how it works, Dick." She clenched her jaw. "I am telling you—again—you don't want me on your team. I just…" She shrugged and shook her head again, turning towards the door to the stairway. "I don't fit."
"Bullshit."
She turned back, surprised by the venom in the voice.
Victor stepped towards her, his eye narrowing, the cybernetic aperture on the other side contracting. "You don't fit?" he asked incredulously. "Girl, look at us."
He threw a silver hand out, a whisk clutched absurdly in his large fist, and brandished it at Kori on one side of him, then Gar on the other, sweeping it across their group. "He's green, half of me is metal, and she's from another planet. What part of you doesn't fit in exactly?"
"I—"
"And don't even get me started on Boy-Wonder here."
They all turned to look at Dick, who frowned.
"Sure," Raven said dryly, "use the one normal guy as the example—"
"Normal?" Vic asked in astonishment, his voice rising in pitch. "Normal?" He shook his head in absolute disbelief. "Charging headfirst into an alien invasion with nothing but some fancy boomerangs and a stick and more balls than brains is not normal!"
He gestured sharply at Dick, almost smacking him in the chest with the cooking utensil still in his hand. "He's the craziest one out of all of us!"
Dick shot him a murderous look.
Garfield laughed, then stopped abruptly as everyone turned to him.
"What?" He smiled, hazel eyes flicking back and forth between them. "That's—that's a joke—right? You have superpowers…"
His grin flickered out at the expression on Dick's face, standing like a statue with his fists clenched at his sides. Then he blinked, and the smile came back in full-force, his sharp canines sticking out. "Come-on," he laughed, "Cliff and I had a bet going for like—years—about what Robin's superpower was…" He looked over Dick expectantly, as if waiting for something to happen…
"Short, angry, and fucking insane," Vic muttered darkly.
Dick looked as if steam was going to start shooting out of his ears.
"Huh…?" Gar looked between the two of them in confusion. Then his eyes got big as dinner plates, his mouth dropping open.
"No way," he whispered. "You don't have powers?"
"Great, thanks," Dick growled.
A surge of envy roiled inside of him, the same dark, sharp edged, oily thing Raven had felt in him first in the park and then on the ship, his cheeks heating with shame and embarrassment.
"Batman doesn't have any powers either," she snapped. The words were out of her mouth before she could think better of them, her instincts kicking in to try to alleviate that horrible feeling any way she could. Everyone else's eyes fell on her, and she clamped her mouth shut, a soft flush rising on her own cheeks.
Dick blinked a her, his face blank for a split second as he registered what she had just said. His jaw dropped open. "What—you—how did—"
"What?" Victor and Garfield both turned to stare at Dick in absolute shock.
Dick looked between the two of them, aghast, a stab of panic piercing through him. Then his eyes narrowed. His entire demeanor shifted in an instant, the blue of his eyes flashing and his shoulders tightening as he leaned forward towards them aggressively. "That information does not leave this room," he snarled.
Gar snapped his mouth closed, stepping back at the expression on Dick's face.
"I don't know how you knew that, but—" Dick shook his head at Raven— "no one else can know. Do you understand?" He met each of them in the eye, waiting until they each gave a nod of assent. Kori looked thoroughly bewildered.
Dick shook his head again after a moment of shocked silence, then closed his eyes and rubbed his face roughly with both hands. "God, he's gonna kill me."
Vic just rolled his eyes. "Yikes, at least we know where you get your dramatic streak."
Garfield laughed, then raised his arm hastily, the sound devolving into a cough under Dick's glare.
"Whatever," Vic turned back to Raven with a shake of his head, his brown eye dancing with laughter. "Point is, there's no competition for the 'messed-up' prize. We all win, ok?" He pointed the whisk threateningly at her, narrowing his eyes. "And you can't just go running off. We kicked alien butt together; you're on the stupid team now, like it or not."
Four sets of eyes watched her intently, pinning her in place, and she blinked at them, stunned.
This was impossible, it had to be. Yet, here they were: people who had seen what she was capable of, who had glimpsed the darkness lurking inside of her, and who were still asking her to stay. And not taking no for an answer.
Soft warmth radiated out from all of them, slowly leaking into her, and the numbing cold that had crept through her body dissipated, burned away.
She nodded helplessly, that beautiful glow building in her chest, unable to think of anything to say.
Vic gave a satisfied nod of the head, his lips quirked up, Kori beaming from over his shoulder, and Dick smiled at her, a slight smugness in his expression that he had been able to prove her wrong, that the others had accepted her.
A warm arm looped around her shoulders, pulling her in, and Garfield grinned down at her, hazel eyes bright against his green skin. "Come on Rae, first official team breakfast!"
She froze, staring at him in shock, her mouth falling open, the warmth from his body flooding into her.
He grinned wider, the gold and green flecks in his eyes sparkling, completely oblivious.
Then she growled. Her eyes darkened, the violet irises turning black, and a pulse of shadow blasted off of her skin and slammed into him, sending him tumbling backwards.
Kori gasped in shock.
Garfield yelped as he hit the ground, falling in a tangle of long limbs.
"Uh, Gar," Dick said, chuckling even as he winced, "that's a really good way to lose your hands."
Victor barked out a loud laugh.
"I was just trying to be nice!" Gar protested, climbing gingerly to his feet and rubbing his backside. "Yeesh, everyone is so touchy!" he grumbled, frowning at Dick and then at Raven.
She glared daggers back at him, her eyes already lightening to their normal color. Her skin prickled strangely where he had touched her, sparks tingling down through her arms to her fingertips. No one, ever, had just touched her so casually like that. No one she had ever known would have even dared to get close enough to try—her magic, her blood, triggering an instinctual, subconscious fear. Even her mother had physically kept her distance, the aversion getting stronger and stronger as her abilities grew. It was…unnerving, how little it seemed to bother him.
She shook out her shoulders, still glaring, trying to dispel the feeling.
He rolled his eyes, smiling again. "Speaking of short and angry..." he muttered.
Raven flushed.
Koriand'r broke into soft giggles as she watched the two of them, trying to hold them back with a hand clasped over her mouth.
"Just don't maim him permanently," Dick held a hand slightly out towards Raven, fighting the urge to move Garfield as quickly out of her immediate vicinity as he could, not sure if he needed to intervene. "There's too much paperwork involved." He would have to have a talk with Garfield. Not having physical boundaries was one thing, but not having physical boundaries around this particular girl was another thing entirely.
"I will if he keeps touching me." Raven clenched her hands into fists as she glowered at the boy, the last words coming out in a low growl that sent shivers skittering across everyone's skin. The room darkened.
Garfield, to his credit, just grinned right back at her, not deterred in the slightest. "Aww, come on," he said playfully, one sharp canine sticking out, "I don't bite." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "usually."
Raven's eyes widened in fury, her short black hair raising around her face in a phantom breeze as she opened her mouth to respond. "You—"
"Biting is acceptable in your culture?" Kori interrupted. She looked completely shocked, her eyes meeting Gar's in surprise and confusion. Then she lit up with understanding. "Oh, I see!" she said, beaming. "It is a mating ritual, yes?" She looked at Dick proudly for confirmation.
Dick felt his face flush with heat. "Uh—"
Victor doubled up, unable to hold it any longer, bellowing with laughter.
Gar's mouth popped open, his eyes widening in horror as he stared at the alien. "What!? No—I—I mean…" he stammered. He looked back at Raven, a dark green flush spreading across his freckled cheeks while the rest of his skin went slightly pale.
The air around her darkened, shadows twisting beneath her feet, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. The electric lights above her blinked to life with quiet pops, flickering madly on and off.
"It was just a joke, Kori" Dick said quickly, trying to explain before Raven could immolate Garfield on the spot. He struggled to keep the laughter from his voice as he watched the boy's rising panic.
"Oh," Kori looked rather disappointed, "so biting is not acceptable as an expression of sexual interest?" She frowned, "but why then would Garfield wish to bite her?"
Dick blushed further and shook his head helplessly, trying desperately to keep a straight face.
"Because, he is an idiot," Raven answered for him, snarling out the words through clenched teeth.
The look on her face was just too much. Dick burst out laughing, almost as badly as Victor, his chest and ribs aching with the force. He wrapped his arms around his torso, his eyes squeezed shut as Kori devolved into a fit of giggles next to him. Gar looked helplessly between all of them.
To her utter humiliation, Raven felt her own cheeks burn. Heat surged through her entire body, the lights in the room flaring brightly even as shadows danced through the air around her, stretching out across the floor.
The couch cushions nearest to her flopped off onto the carpet, and something shattered in the kitchen, glass tinkling as it cascaded across the tiles.
"You're all idiots," she growled, shaking her head violently. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take deep, even breaths.
The lights dimmed, then went dark, and the shadows around her slowly dissipated, pulling back into her skin as the others wrestled back control of themselves.
Kori hiccuped lightly, clutching Dick's arm for balance as they grinned at each other, their laughter fading.
Victor straightened up, wiping the tears from his human eye, gasping for breath. He almost lost it again as he caught the look of complete mortification on Gar's face. "I wouldn't go biting her just yet, green bean," he choked out. "Might want to wait till she doesn't want to kill you, first."
Gar smacked at his arm, half-terrified at the suggestion. "I was just trying to be nice!" He snuck a look back at Raven, both of their faces still flushed with color, and smiled sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Come on, Rae," Victor chuckled, getting her attention off of Garfield before the poor kid could complete his death wish. She snapped her head around, and he waved for her to follow him back into the kitchen with a wink. "I'm making waffles."
She stared at him blankly for a moment, still breathing deeply, dark curls lifting around her face.
Then his words finally made it through her head, and she groaned at the name, pressing a hand over her eyes. Her shoulders slumped, the aura of energy around her vanishing. "Don't you start with that, too."
"What?" he asked innocently, a wicked gleam in his eye. "You like waffles, don't you Rae?"
She shot another murderous look at Garfield, then turned that piercing violet glare back on him, dark brows lowered.
"More than life itself."
The ops room door slid shut behind Dick with a soft hiss.
He pulled his phone out, dialing the first contact on the list, and Bruce answered after the third ring.
"Feeling better?" Dick asked in the sweetest voice he could muster.
Bruce grunted. "I talked to the others, we're working on the …official clearance now."
Dick let out the breath he had been holding, relaxing against the counter behind him.
"It may take a few weeks to get everything set up," he continued in his low voice, "she'll have to stay in the Tower until it's all finalized. It's been appointed a sort of interim foreign embassy status, so as long as she's within the building, no one can raise any legal arguments." Bruce rubbed at his face roughly, the sound scratching through the phone.
"You all need to stay out of sight for a while," he continued brusquely. "You're getting quite a bit of attention right now, and I have enough work on my hands cleaning up her rampage through the financial district. We don't need any more messes, accidental or not."
"That's probably a good idea."
Bruce grunted again, and Dick heard the exhaustion in the sound. This was the most words he had heard at once from Bruce in a long time, and he wondered how long it had been since the man had gotten a full night's sleep. "Victor and I can help," he offered. "I know how much you love paperwork."
Bruce let out a heavy sigh.
"So…did it work?" Dick asked, nervously, all humor gone. "Are the aliens going to attack us to try to get her back?"
"We won't know for sure until they launch an attack, but…I don't think so. The League technically wasn't involved, but if they come back, we will be. And they've already had their asses handed to them by a group of rogue teenagers."
Dick broke into a grin. From Bruce, that was practically a glowing commendation. "There's no reported contact with them before?" he asked.
"No, and that's what worries us, because they obviously know who we are. But we're contacting them now, and making sure they know exactly what is and is not permitted within League space. And slave transports," Bruce growled, "no matter the political situation, are very high on that list."
He took a long, deep breath, then cut right to it. "You're sure she's not a threat?"
"Very sure."
"…And the fact that she kissed you has nothing to do with it?" Bruce said dryly.
Dick winced. "You saw that?"
Bruce didn't even bother to answer. He was Batman, of course he had seen it. Dick rubbed at his face, unconsciously mirroring Bruce's gesture, and let out a sigh. "That is, apparently, how her…species…learn languages."
"Ahh, of course."
"She's not a threat, trust me." He shook his head, trying to dispel the mental image of said alien chugging from the newly discovered mustard bottle at breakfast like it was a juice pack. He shuddered.
Bruce was silent for a moment, and Dick could practically see his dark eyes narrowing, the scowl forming, but he didn't argue further.
"Just be careful. And don't do—"
"Anything stupid," Dick finished for him, "I know." He smiled softly into the phone, his own body heavy with exhaustion. "Say high to Alfred for me."
Bruce grunted. "You can be the one to tell him about your little adventure, I don't want my head chewed off."
Dick laughed quietly, and he could have sworn he heard a low grunt of laughter from the other end.
He took a deep breath, pushing off of the counter. "Well, keep me in the loop, ok?"
Bruce didn't answer right away, and Dick moved to hang up, walking back towards the door to the living room—
"You did good, kid."
Dick stopped in his tracks, staring at the metal door. His mouth fell open.
Then the line disconnected with a click.
He lowered the phone down slowly, blinking down at it in his hand, then broke into an enormous grin. His chest filled with a kind of glow, his whole body feeling like it was filled with light.
The door slid open in front of him, and he walked back into the living room, sliding his phone back into a pocket.
Kori and Gar had both passed out on the couch, bright mid-morning sunlight pouring over them. Gar was sprawled haphazardly across the cushions, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his head falling back against a pillow, mouth hanging open. Kori had curled up on her side like a cat, her scarlet hair fanned out around her head, pulsing softly with light.
Victor had disappeared several minutes ago, muttering something about setting up a recharge station, and Raven sat at the counter in her enormous black hoodie, her head in her hands, empty mug in front of her.
She sat up and tugged her hood down, drawn out of her reverie as Dick slid onto the stool beside her at the counter.
"Well, that was not the way I expected the day to go," Dick said softly, still smiling, a hint of humor in his voice.
"What, alien invasions aren't a normal occurrence for you?" she asked dryly. She rubbed her eyes, trying to drag herself back to alertness.
Dick chuckled. "No, not exactly."
Then he peered at her out of the corner of his eye. "Does that—mean you're staying?" he asked in a quiet, but very hopeful voice.
"If I don't, you four idiots will be dead in a month."
Dick grinned at her. "Probably. You're definitely an asset to the team."
She hummed noncommittally, studying him.
"Did you need to pick up your stuff?" Dick asked. "I can take you…"
"Oh…" She considered that for a moment, staring blankly at the counter, then narrowed her eyes in concentration.
Shadows crawled over the black granite, darkening to an impossible color, then lightened and faded away. Revealing her black backpack now sitting on the counter.
"That's convenient."
She shrugged, sliding the backpack towards her. She hadn't summoned it before because she didn't want Dick to know any more about her abilities than she could help, but, well… "It was one of the few things I was able to actually practice with," she said, and her lips twisted in a small, secret smile. "I could get whatever books I wanted, even when I wasn't allowed to leave my…" She trailed off, her smile dying, eyes sliding slightly out of focus as the memories of those days came back to her. Days when everything just felt too sharp, too strong, and she couldn't stop her emotions from pouring out of her, couldn't keep herself under control. Days spent alone. Confined to that silent, boring, empty room.
She took a deep breath.
She looked over at the shock of green hair sticking up over the back of the couch. Completely carefree and comfortable. No fear of ripping the room apart with a bad dream. Or worse.
Dick frowned at her, picking up on the words she wasn't saying.
"Can I use one of the rooms upstairs?" she asked him, her voice sounding tired again. Heavy. "I—uh—well, you don't want me sleeping without a warding circle, trust me."
"A warding circle?" He looked at her with interest.
"Yeah, it's something the—" she paused, blinking, then looked away, schooling her face back into the emotionless mask. "Something I was taught," she finished tonelessly. "It keeps my powers from getting away from me when I'm meditating or sleeping." She shrugged again, but there was more defensiveness in the gesture. "I don't really want to set one up in the middle of the living room."
"Of course," Dick said quickly, picking up on her discomfort. "You can have any room you want, I'll walk you up."
She nodded and followed him to the elevator. They rode up in comfortable silence, both of them exhausted to the point of collapse.
She followed him out onto the top floor, down a wide, carpeted hallway lined with doors, finally finishing the tour he had been so excited to give her.
"Why don't you take the one at the end?" he offered. "Might be the most quiet."
"Thanks," she murmured, genuine gratitude clear in the way her shoulders relaxed.
She opened the door and peered inside the room. It was huge, much larger than the rooms she had had before—probably larger than the entire apartment she had lived in with her mother when she was little. A large window looking down over the bay took up the back wall, light pouring in. A queen-sized bed stood against one wall, a desk and chair opposite it, with a door leading to a full bathroom, but the space felt rather empty. Undecorated and lonely, the walls bare, just waiting for someone to breathe life into it.
"And Raven—" he added quietly.
She looked back at him in the hallway. A gentle warmth radiated out of him, a smile curving his mouth, the blue of his eyes filled with something that made her feel…settled, somehow. Calm.
"I'm really glad you're here."
She stared at him, not really sure what to say to that. Could it really hurt? If she stayed? Just for a while…
"I…thanks." She nodded at him, tucking her hair behind her ear, then let out a heavy breath. "I'm just glad it's over."
"Nah," Dick shook his head, his eyes dancing with light.
He took a step back down the hallway, giving her space, his smile growing.
"This is just the beginning."
END
…of Part 1
This is the first thing I have ever written, and I love it, and I am so proud of it, and I am so proud of finishing it!
I want to first say thank you to whatever mad genius it was that took the time and effort to write down the transcriptions of the Teen Titans episodes on the fandom wiki. The transcript of 'Go!' was an invaluable resource to me and saved me a butt-load of time re-watching that episode over and over and over. (I still did because it's Teen Titans, duh, but it was a huge help!)
Next thank you goes to all of you guys. I don't know if I can fully express in words what it means to me that people liked my story. And not just any people—but other TT fans—nerds of the highest caliber who love these idiots as much as I do. Thank you for reading my story all the way through, and for all of the lovely comments and feedback and favorites. This community is amazing.
And finally, thank you to my beta reader, the first person who ever read something I had written. You are a pain in the ass, and I hate you for finding all of the mistakes and problems in my *perfect* story, and you are the best sister I could have ever asked for. Love you.
And now, *cracks knuckles* I can get started on Part 2…
The Judas Contract
Xoxoxo
- Kat
