These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

68. Good Day

68. Good Day

I woke up depressed.

It must have been a Sunday morning. I always woke up depressed on Sunday mornings. Even when I didn't have school. The start of a week was always a dull, lazy thing for me. People moving at half-tempo. Incomplete thoughts and incomplete breaths. Waiting for the looming Sun to murder the day so I could sleep again.

But it wasn't really a Sunday. And there was no need to be gloomy. Lord knows, there was every reason in the world for me to be happy and join the awakening enthusiasm of my vacationing companions. But I wasn't the world. I never was.

So I decided—after a brisk breakfast on the skittle—to walk over to a clearing behind a hedge of trees in the field and meditate. I had my trusty Myrkblade stretched out and alert. I spun and knelt into multiple poses. With Construction and Destruction, I tried to wash away the unpleasant emotions from myself when I realized I couldn't. I was merely balance. I was not Wisdom. I wasn't Ana.

And yet, I felt a smoothness inside of me. Like I had felt so many days since the collapse of everything.

And I thought of the Titans. And I thought of their arms. And I thought of their smiles and frowns and just about that time, the sun rose.

And I decided there and then—with meditation inside a meditation—that this was going to be a good day.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Hey Rae."

"Goodbye, Cyborg…," Raven muttered, meditating off to the side of the campsite.

"Awww…can't I come say 'good morning'?"

"It already is a good morning."

"Oh really? Why's that, Miss Sunshine?"

"Because you're going to be dead in ten seconds if you don't stop interrupting me."

"Hmmmm," Cyborg rubbed his chin. "So I take it you'll be depressed at my absence, cuz then I wouldn't be dead."

"………," Raven was silent.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"How utterly, completely lost my meditative concentration is at the moment."

"Good…," Cyborg sat down beside her. "Then maybe we can chat after all."

"About what?"

"Like what you're running from."

Raven squinted her blue eyes at him. "…where's Cyborg and what have you done to his body?"

"Just listen for a sec…," Cyborg raised a finger and leaned forward. "For a while now…you've been distant."

"Um….okay….," Raven blinked. "Look who's been born yesterday."

Cyborg rolled his human eye. "I mean really distant. The way you're always meditating these days. Digging your nose in a book. Brushing people off."

"That is normal."

"Well, it's been twice as normal lately," Cyborg said. "I think you've been preoccupied with something lately, Raven. Something big."

"Whatever I deal with, I deal with on my own," she stood up and brushed off her jeans and black t-shirt. "It is not the place of you or any of the other Titans to dictate to me whatever actions I must take to overcome adversity."

"Oh…," Cyborg smirked. "So something has been up?"

Raven glared at him. "If you'll excuse me…I have a tent to fold up and shove into a tube."

"How poetic. Think I can hail you down later to talk this out more?"

"Do I look like a cab to you? Besides…there is nothing to talk about."

The dark girl walked off.

The android blinked. "Well…maybe if she wore yellow…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-YEAAAAAAAH!!" Beast Boy echoed, flailing his hands above him in the wind like he was in a rollercoaster.

"B.B.!! Knock it off!! Save the euphoria for once we get to the sand!" Cyborg griped.

"I can't help it, man!!" Beast Boy exclaimed, standing up in the rear and extending his torso into the air above the torso. "We're beach-borne, the sun's warm, and I've got at least three years left till I reach my hormonal peak!! I'm happy!!"

Robin sweatdropped, yanked the changeling down into his seat, and cleared his throat. "You're also one step away from becoming roadkill if you stand up in the car one more time."

"Ya know, Robin…," the green elf smirked and looked over. "For such an agile bird, you really are a mother hen."

Starfire giggled.

I smirked. I extended my metal hand out and twisted it gently on currents of air. Having rounded a cape, we were speeding eastward and eastward alone.

Eastward….

I was feeling at ease.

"Friends!" Starfire spoke from the front passenger's sweat, her hands clasped together. "I propose a feast of store-bought Pringles and sandwiches of the peanut butter and the jelliness upon arriving at the mighty strip of ocean-lined sand!"

"Not always a good idea to eat before swimming in the ocean, Star," Robin smirked. "You'd get the cramps and stuff."

"Is that anything like the bends?" Starfire asked.

"Could be…if Beast Boy slips in his tofu jam," Cyborg smirked from the driver's seat.

"Dude! Not funny!"

"I have to ask…," Robin's eyemask thinned. "Just…how do you process tofu into a jam??"

"Well…I usually add a preservative."

"What kind of preservative?"

"Well…corn oil is a start---"

Robin winced. "Okay. Continue that sentence, and I'll replace your pancreas with a birdarang."

"Dude. You're harsh! All of you!"

"Cheer up, Beast Boy. We're coming to the beach."

"I was cheering up until Boy Wonderbread yanked me down!! You guys need to live a little!"

"Hey Cy!" Robin smirked up to the driver's seat. "I bet I could live Beast boy into the air further than you can!!"

"You're on!!"

"Eeep!" Beast Boy gulped and sunk in his seat. "No tossing me, please."

"Nonsense…there'll be ocean water below your butt, man!"

"Yeah…with sharks."

"Sharks?!" Starfire gasped.

"Nothing for you to fear about," Beast Boy replied. "You could always zap one away with a starbolt the soonest you see a dorsal fin."

"Awwww…poor aquatic carnivores!"

"Leave it to Starfire to sympathize with the most notorious of life forms," Cyborg smirked at the road.

"Well, she talks to Robin all the time," Beast Boy mused, "….soooooo—"

Robin leapt at him.

"Ack!! Cyborg!! Help!!"

"You're on your own, man! Just no bleeding on the upholstery!!"

"AAACK!! We're almost at the beach, Robin!! At least let me see the ocean before I die!! At least let me see the ocean!!"

"You'll be seeing stars. Isn't that enough?! Rrrgghh!!"

"Boys! Ending each other's mortal lives in the back of Cyborg's car is a sin!!"

"They're only playing, Star," Cyborg said. He looked back in the mirror. "Boys will be boys---HEY!! YO YO YO!! THE SEATBELT IS NOT A GARROTE!! What's the matter with you punks?!?!"

As the rear of the T-Car wobbled, I shook my smirking head and glanced at Raven. I blinked.

She didn't have her nose in a book this time. Rather, she stared off into the passing scenery beside us. She seemed preoccupied.

Preoccupied indeed.

My mind stumbled over this as the asphalt ended and the sand began.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

A horizon of pure, warbling blue…

I'd seen it before…but reverse and on the opposite of the continent.

I liked it here better.

I stood where the hot, white sand turned to hard, brown mush. Constantly saturated by tippy-toes of the ocean surf's feet.

And in speaking of feet, I was purely without any shoes or sandals or heel-hugging-attire of any sort as I planted myself in the water-kissed edge of the earth. Bare skin stretched up my ankles before being cut off by long, khaki shorts that hung loosely from my hips. I had a light white shirt slipped over my torso. The sleeves were unclasped and flapping loosely around my metal and flesh forearms. The rest of the shirt…unbuttoned and parting up and down my chest that sighed in the sun. The light of a morning glory shimmered down the sky, glittered off the waves, and bounced off my black shades all the same.

There were a lot of people at the beach. Young people. Not heavily crowded, but enough to give evidence that it was summer vacation for many adventuresome souls. They chattered and mingled in various clusters of dots atop the white sand behind me. None of them were ready—in their social cliques—to step out into the waves yet. But I didn't care. I was alone. In my head at least. With two sides of the earth crashing around me. What beach was this? Virginia? North Carolina? I didn't care. This was oblivion. Pure, dimensional chaos. Death romanticized in salt water and seagull cries.

East was paradise…and I wanted to sink my teeth into it and implode.

I took a step out. But not into the water. Rather, onto the water. My feet effortlessly smoked and blurred as I transformed myself into a weightless march out onto the waves. Crests came at me, spraying up at my knees. I simply jumped them and landed-blurring-on the other side like a blue trampoline. Salt filled the air with a primal scent and wafted up into my nose. I kept marching. I imagined the heads of citizens turning my way and gasping at this sudden superpower at work. At this sudden ghost going out to sea as if he was trying to rejoin some phantom ship. I didn't look back. Not yet. I was a good thirty yards out when I realized the limits of my frontier and reminded myself that this was only a vacation. I had been out on the Atlantic once before in my life. It was a frigate suspended in murky waters. And I had killed Slade on it.

I sighed.

I slowly swiveled around…

I looked West.

Land. People. Even the Titans.

I took a deep, painful breath.

Even the Titans……

I shook my head and shook that out.

It was only vacation.

I smiled as the warmth of the sun finally met my heart with that thought.

It was only vacation….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Raven says that the 'seaweed' gets everywhere, and for that she does not desire to join us in our aquatic excursion," Starfire spoke. Despite her height and…..other features….she was dressed quite moderately in a cute one-piece of a bathing suit. The color? Pink, of course. "And I do recall her voice putting an emphasis on the word 'everywhere'. Are you certain it is wise to enter the waters of this beach?"

Robin walked alongside her as four Titans trudged across the sand towards the waves. "No need to worry, Star. No seaweed here. Not this far south…I don't think." The Boy Wonder wore red swimming trunks. He was shirtless. His eyemask stayed on under immortally spiked, black hair.

"I dunno…," Cyborg stated in the titanium buff….as always. "Mother Nature can never be predicted right these days. With El Nino around, it could carry seaweed anywhere she wants!"

"Dude…it's La Nina right now," Beast Boy said. He had on green trunks and a short, white t-shirt. "At least I think so. Life's a lot happier when the weather around you is a 'girl' instead of a 'boy'."

"So…is there seaweed to fear?" Starfire blinked.

"Hardly," Robin smirked and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Besides…if there were any, I'd save you from them."

She blushed. "That is awfully sweet of you to offer!"

"What's this all of the sudden, Robin?" Cyborg smirked. "Boy Wonder Valentino! Putting on the moves on Starfire now that she's got even MORE skin exposed!"

"Dude…she's got less with that thing on. Admit it."

"Now that you think of it---"

"Is not seaweed prone to devouring one's limbs?" Starfire blinked.

Robin jumped. "Excuse me?"

"On my planet, aquatic vegetation has a tragic history of consuming the legs of bipeds in shallow water. Many a Tamaranian infant has perished in such a fashion."

"No way, Starfire!! Nothing but floating grass on this planet!" Beast Boy stated.

"Oh! Glorious! Robin need not protect me after all!" A beat. She pouted and looked his way, "My apologies."

He chuckled.

"First in!! FIRST IN!!" Beast Boy ran into the surf, got ankle deep, jolted at the cold sensation, and ran back out. "First out!! FIRST OUT!!!"

"Ha ha ha!!" Cyborg laughed. "This ain't Miami, little man! Take it slow!"

"Dude! I'm used to the ocean! I've been a whale before!! Look before you leap!"

"Hey B.B."

"What?"

"Think fast!"

"YAAAAUGH!!" The changeling yelped as he was suddenly airborne like a green comet. Cyborg had hurtled him mercilessly into the air, and soon the shapeshifter plunged twelve meters off into deep waters.

SPLASH!!!!

Robin smirked. "Beat me to it."

"Gladly!"

"Beast Boy!" Starfire called out between cupped hands. "Are you damaged?"

The changeling surfaced, panted, and scrunched his face as he bobbed chin-deep in the waters. "I hade id when sald wader goez up my noze."

"I'll remedy that!" Cyborg ran out and leapt mightily into the air…and came down. "BAPTIZE THIS!!! YAUGH!!!"

Beast Boy's eyes became white pixels.

SPLASH!!!!!

"Eeek!" Starfire cowered against a laughing Robin as the Atlantic waters fountained out at them from the titanium meteor.

Beast Boy bobbed back up and gasped again. He glared at Cyborg who was resurfacing. "Just twist the knife…why don't ya?"

"Hey, B.B. You're all wet," Cyborg winked.

"Yeah….that's a lame joke, dude," Beast Boy stood up and batted the water out of his pointy ears. "Even lamer than my jokes. And coming from me, that's pretty darn sincere."

"I think it means you're maturing," Cyborg said as the two tread water. A beat. A blink. "Aren't you gonna take your shirt off?"

"Cyborg!" Beast Boy mock gasped. "But I hardly know you!"

The android rolled his human eye. "I'm just saying…back when I had flesh all over and I wore shirts…I knew how annoying it was to keep one on while in the pool. Everything starts feeling really heavy and stuff. Why're you torturing yourself, man?"

"I'm not torturing myself!" Beast Boy frowned…then bit his lip and trailed his eyes off as he said: "Just….l-like to have a shirt on while swimming is all."

"Why is that, Beast Boy?" Starfire smiled as she and Robin waded out together and joined the other two. "You and Robin are no different, and is it not true that earthling males feel that a lack of mammary glands signifies unabashed freedom in exposing one's chest?"

"I….uh….," Beast Boy sweatdropped into the waters. "I have no response to that."

"Well if this isn't the day?" Robin placed his hands on his submerged hips. "Here we are at the beach and the notorious green casanova of the Titans is afraid of exposing his manly muscles."

Beast Boy frowned. "Allright then, bigshot! Mr. Pects! Here I go!!"

He proceeded to attempt peeling the white, soggy article off of him.

Cyborg imitated a brass section at a gentleman's club.

"Not….funny…in the most….remote…sense!" the changeling's voice came through the shirt in a muffled fashion.

"Need help?" Robin droned.

"Mmmmffmmfmffmff!!" Beast Boy answered.

Starfire giggled.

Cyborg whistled innocently and yanked the white shirt off of Beast Boy.

"YEEP!" the green elf covered his chest and dropped shoulder-deep into the waters.

"Jeez….what's your deal?" Robin exclaimed.

Beast Boy moaned. "Okay! I'm skinny!! I'm skinny and it sucks!! You all happy!!"

Dreadful silence.

"I like 'the skinny'," Starfire nicely said. She leaned her red head to the side and smiled. "Skinniness denotes humility and asceticism. I find it an admirable trait of wisdom among earthling males."

Beast Boy blinked. He stood up, torso exposed. "Really?"

Starfire's green eyes widened.

Cyborg laughed.

Beast Boy sighed and lowered his eyelids. "Knew it…."

"Um….Beast Boy?" Starfire blinked. "Have you been baloonic and not telling us?"

"Bulimic," Robin corrected. He smiled at Starfire and gestured towards the elf. "And no, Star. He's just got a metabolism for us all to die for."

"Yeah…my metabolism and my rib cage are practically sleeping together," the changeling moped.

"You need protein, man!!" Cyborg shoved the changeling in the back and smiled. "Vegetarians don't become body builders!! What were you thinking?!"

"Well, look at tennis players!!" Beast Boy spun in the ocean water and gestured. "And ice skaters! They still get the girls, right?"

Cyborg blinked. "This isn't Europe, man."

Robin laughed.

Beast Boy placed his hands on his hips. "Fine…Mr. Titanium. At least I can still do this." And the changeling morphed into a three-hundred pound gorilla and flailed meaty limbs with a roar in the salt water.

"Okay man…," Cyborg flinched. "OKAY MAN!! Just go back to your normal shape and size before those damn swimming trunks burst and fall apart!!"

Instantly, the gorilla blushed and shrunk down into a safe-sized Beast Boy. "M-My bad," he gulped. "Ya know what? Scratch what I said. I think I like being skinny after all."

"Well now that that's settled…," Robin smiled and treaded around to look at everyone. "Just what the heck did we come out here to do?!"

"Feel the ocean!" Cyborg shrugged with a grin.

"Hehehehe!! Friends! Observe!" Starfire motioned with a smile and her eyes joyously shut. "This is a trick Tamaranians perform on their home planet!"

"Cool!"

"Let us see!"

"Well allright!"

Starfire took a deep breath, ducked under water, submerged for about ten seconds, and jumped back up with a gasp and two hands flailing dancer-like above a wet mop of red hair. "Ta to the daaaaa!"

Everyone blinked.

"Uhhhhh," Beast Boy slurred.

Cyborg scratched his human head. "What'd you do?"

Before his remark ended…there was a boiling sensation. All three boys looked down and saw three glowing spots under the surf between their feet. Simultaneously, three strategically placed starbolts exploded remotely as one.

SPLOOOOOOOOSH!!!!

The guys shrieked, thoroughly doused.

Starfire had a good, long giggle.

Beast Boy was the first to regain his breath and laugh. "Hahahahahaha! Nice one, Star!!"

"Did you like the chaotic explosion?"

"Dude…we always like chaotic explosions!"

Cyborg sputtered and grinned. "We should have Tamaranians over at a pool party!"

"Yes!!" Starfire smiled and clasped her dripping hands together. "My family could come visit and drown you all!"

"You think that was a trick…," Robin smirked. "Watch this!" He held his breath, ducked into the water, and came up in what looked precisely like a spinning kick…the type that the Boy Wonder often used to level three or four attacking thugs in the crime-filled streets at once. However, in the ocean surf, it performed as a mid-air sprinkler as his water-soaked body sprayed droplets outward on everyone like a liquid helicopter.

"Awww man!!" Cyborg flinched.

"Hahahaha!" Beast Boy batted the water away. "Awesome!!"

And then Robin came down…

"HIYAAAA!!" He 'karate chopped' the water.

SPLOOOSH!!!

A torrent came and struck Starfire first. "EEEK!!" Then the two boys. "Aaaaugh!!" "Hahahaha!!"

Robin came up finally and gasped. Bobbing in the water, he immediately asked. "Top that, guys!!"

Cyborg smirked. "Allrighty." He switched his right hand into a laser rifle, shoved it halfway down into the waters, and unloaded. "RAAAUGH!!!"

FLASH!!!

SPLOOOOOOOOSH!!!!

This time, seawater reached forty feet into the air before coming back down.

It was a good ten seconds before Robin and Starfire surfaced, gasping. They blinked.

"Wow….."

"Glorious…."

They both looked each other…attempting to reason out in their heads the awkwardness of sounding identically exhausted after having experienced uniquely the same thing. And they blushed.

"HA HA HA HA!!! Walking depth charge in the house!!!" Cyborg beamed, leaning back and planting his hands to his hips like a pirate.

Starfire blinked. "Where is Beast Boy?"

Cyborg blinked. He looked up. He extended a hand out.

"WAAAAAAUGH!!!" THWUMP!! "Ooof!!" the changeling landed safely in the android's grasp after having been blown sky-high into the air along with the water. He simpered.

Starfire and Robin together sweatdropped.

"Man…gain some weight for god's sake," Cyborg said.

"Eheheheheh…," Beast Boy dangled from the titanium titan's grasp. "P-People are starting to stare….I-I think…"

Cyborg glanced over at other groups of youthful swimmers gathered in the waters meters away. They were all staring at the vacationing, wave-making superheroes in awe.

"Let them…," the android smirked. He dropped Beast Boy.

"Yack!!" Splash!!!

"Don't mind us!!" Cyborg waved and called out. "Someway…somehow…what we're doing is preserving the polar ice caps!! Y-Yeah!! I assure you of that!!"

Starfire giggled and Robin smirked.

Some high school male from a faraway clique shouted back over: "H-Hey!! Think guys can come over with that laser thingy of yours and show us how you can make the water explode like that?!"

"Kinda doubt it!!" Cyborg shouted. "You'd have to have a membership to make waves with us!!"

A girl called out from the group. "Say…are you the Teen Titans?!"

"Uhhh…," Robin turned around and then called out. "No!! We're….um…we're Brazillians!! Yeah! Come give us a call the next time you're in Rio De Janeiro! We'll kick a soccer ball around and drink coffee straight from the trees!"

Beast Boy and Cyborg laughed.

"That kosher with you, povos? Sim? Okay then! Boa Tarde!"

"Dude…you're evil."

"No, I'm linguistic," Robin spun around. "Besides. They're off our backs. What now?"

"Piggyback wrestling!!" Cyborg shouted.

"Wooohoo!!" Beast Boy jumped, making waves.

"Glorious!!" Starfire exclaimed. A beat. "Erm…wh-what is this 'Piggyback of wrestling'?"

"Well, since there're four of us…," Cyborg pointed. "We get into two teams. Each team has a carrier and a….er…saddler. Y-Yeah. Basically, one person sits on the shoulders of another—riding 'piggyback'—and tries to knock down the other saddler."

Starfire gasped. "Knock down?!?!"

"Into the water," Cyborg rolled his human eye. "It's all in good fun."

"And we're not having any of it yet! Come on!! Piggyback wrestling!" Beast Boy jumped.

"Marvelous," Starfire smiled. "We need only form teams!"

Robin lifted a finger--

"Me and Cy!!" Beast Boy hopped up and landed expertly on the android Titan's shoulders. "Ha!! Lock and load!"

Cyborg held the changeling's dangling legs. "Team One assembled!! Do I hear a Team Two?"

Robin lowered his finger. He blinked. "Ahem." He looked over at Starfire and tried not to blush as he said: "So…guess it's you and me."

"Mmmmhmmmm," she smiled sweetly.

"Well…might as well meet the challenge," the Boy Wonder said…dipping down to his chin in the surf and pointing his back at Starfire. "Go on, Starfire."

The alien girl leaned her head to the side. "Why…whatever do you mean, Robin?"

"You're the saddler! Let's take Team One down!!"

Blink. "But Robin…if you were to equate your earthling strength to my Tamaranian one—"

"Don't be ridiculous," Robin nervously chuckled. "Of course I can carry you! I'm a superhero, remember?"

"I was not going to suggest you were incapable of doing such," Starfire said. "But it would be of greater ease if I were to be the carrier, and furthermore we would have a greater chance of 'knocking down' Team One, wouldn't you agree—"

"Are you guys assembling or not?!?!" Beast Boy cackled from atop the android.

"Give us a sec!!" Robin barked, flushed.

"Better hurry or you'll be disqualified!!" Cyborg smirked.

"Affirmative!" Starfire hummed. She ducked under the water, submerged, and came up beneath Robin.

SWOOSH!!!

The Boy Wonder's eyemask went bug-eyed…and he realized he was sitting squarely on the Tamaranian girl's shoulders.

"Let us do seafaring battle!!" Starfire giggled, clutching gentle hold of Robin's legs and facing Cyborg and Beast Boy—who were both stifling chuckles.

"Uhm….y-yeah….lets…," Robin stammered with a blink beneath his eyemask. "Qu-Quickly…and beyond eyesight."

"Are there any rules to this duel?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah," Cyborg nodded. "YOU GET SOAKED!!!"

"RRAAAUGH!!!" Beast Boy's arms short forward as the titanium carrier below him rushed forward.

"EEEK!" Starfire flinched.

"RRRRGHH!!" Robin's hands flew out.

CLAMP!!!!

The changeling and the Boy Wonder grappled. Waves bubbled around the four. Clenched teeth and sun-glistening skin with salt water and insanity.

"Hey Robin!!" Beast Boy strained.

"Wh-What??" Robin replied through clenched teeth.

"I got a joke for ya!!"

"Oh r-really?!"

"What's teenage…black haired…and wet all over?"

"I give…"

"You!! HA!!!"

Beast Boy's hands turned hairy and primate as he flexed sudden muscles and sent Robin and the alien girl sprawling backwards.

"Yaaaaugh!!"

"Eeeeep!!"

SPLOOSH!!

"Dude!"

"All right, man!!"

Cyborg and the changeling on top of him did a high five and laughed merrily.

Robin bobbed up, spit out some salt water, and sputtered. "Cheaters!" he frowned and looked up at the two from where he tread. "Who said anything about using superpowers---ACK!!"

Starfire lifted up between Robin's legs, once again hoisting him on her shoulders as her eyes glowed green and she sneered: "We shall now strike vengeance in the hearts of our oppressors!!"

SWOOOOSH!!

The 'carrier' of Team Two streaked an emerald path through the waters and straight at Cyborg and Beast Boy. The two shrieked: "Yaaaaaah!!"

Robin himself shrieked. "Yaaaaah!!"

Starfire reached Cyborg, skidded to a stop in the water, and Robin sailed forward with an impromptu shove into the piggybacking Beast Boy's chest. THWUMP!!

"Oof!!" the changeling and the android tumbled back hard.

SPLOOOSH!!!!

"He he he he!!!" Starfire giggled cutely.

Robin panted, balancing himself on the alien girl's shoulders before regaining his breath, swallowing, and chugging his right arm in a cheer. "Allright!! Way to go, Starfire!! You rock!!"

"I do believe we just piggybacked their proverbial donkeys royally!"

Cyborg got up, shook the water off his titanium skull, and evilly smirked. "Oh, it ain't over yet people…"

Beast Boy hopped up onto the Titan's shoulders. "Best out of three, dudes!!"

"You've got to be kidding me…," Robin said breathlessly. He leaned his hands down into Starfire's shoulders…his fingers inadvertently dipping into her wet, silky hair.

The girl blinked. She glanced up. "Robin, are you uncomfortable on my shoulders?"

"I-I'm fine, Star. I'm not uncomfortable at all."

"Then why are you constantly shifting position?"

Robin bit his lip and blushed. "Um….c-cuz I'm…er….t-too engrossed in SENDING BEAST BOY TO THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN!!"

"Bring it, landlubber!!"

"RRRAAAUGH!!"

"YAAAAAAGH!!"

The four charged at each other, grappled, twirled about…teetered…and gradually fell over--all as a quadrupled one. SPLASH!!!!

The four reemerged in the waters from the draw. Laughing and splashing each other and even two of them blushing.

A Tamaranian girl and a hero from Gotham….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

When Cyborg finally stumbled back to shore, Raven was fully engulfed in her eighth book. She sat down on a beach blanket with her back half reclined against the cooler. Whatever mysterious bathing suit she may have been attired in was hidden by a light, dark shirt hanging about her figure…unbuttoned. An umbrella rested above her…protecting her from rays too intense or heat too annoying or---

WHUMP!!

Sand flew as Cyborg plopped down, laughing his head off. "Ha ha ha!! Man…you should be out there with us, Rae!! Starfire's kicking our butts at piggyback wrestling!!"

"That is a sight to see…," Raven droned. "I'm sure the other three of you are enough to see it."

"Awwww, come on Rae! Don't tell me you came all the way out here with us to read a book and miss the Ocean?"

"I'm sure the Ocean is doing fine without me. It's taken good care of itself for the last billion and a half years at least."

"Damn, girl. Just what's with you?" Cyborg looked at her with a crooked grin. "Good thing you have this umbrella here or you'd melt from being away from your coffin!"

Raven lowered the book to her lap and sighed. "If this is about the same issue as our anticlimactic talk this morning, I don't want to get into it."

Silence.

Cyborg blinked. "I-I'd totally forgotten about our morning talk, Rae…"

The girl bit her lip. She looked back into her book.

"Raven…," Cyborg leaned over in the sand with his chin on his hand. "What's wrong?" he asked with friendly gentleness.

"Nothing is wrong," she insisted. "I merely want to relax during this vacation."

"But you're so tense and defensive."

"No. I'm frustrated and annoyed."

"Same difference."

"Is this enjoyable to you?" she snapped at him, eyes glaring. "Do you get a high from psychological lectures?"

"No…I get a high from fun in the sun and watching Beast Boy get his head dunked under seawater repeatedly. And we all wish you were there to enjoy our company too!"

"I can't…," she sighed.

Cyborg lifted a human eyebrow. "Can't?"

"What I mean is….," Raven closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. "I'm not in the mood."

"So you admit it."

"Yes. I admit it."

A beat.

"….Want to talk abou—"

"No."

"I can see that," Cyborg nodded. "But if I may say something before I leave you alone?"

"Sure…why not? You've said just about everything you've wanted to…"

Cyborg leaned his head to the side. "I think this all started with Trigon gettin' into Noir. Didn't it, Raven? When your daddy tried to consume us all and Noir especially?"

The girl was silent.

Cyborg nodded. "I can take a hint." He stood up slowly and padded away from her in the sand. But at the edge of the spread beach blanket below her feet, he paused. He looked back, his half titanium face obstructed from her view by the umbrella. "But know this, Raven. You're our friend. And we all love you as much as you can't admit to loving us. In that respect…we know there's nothing you would ever purposefully do to hurt us. And, thus, nothing to feel ashamed about."

Raven swallowed a lump down her throat. She stared at the open pages of the book before her, but the words were all blurry. She shook her head, took a shuddering breath and uttered: "Wait…Cyborg….."

No response. He was already gone. Just like she had willed him to be.

Raven closed her eyes and instantly meditated.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"She gonna join us?"

"Nah, man," Cyborg waded out into the gently swaying surf where the other four were. "She wants to be alone. As always."

"Pfft!" Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Some people never change."

"Give her some credit, B.B.," Robin smirked. "She has her right to enjoy the vacation in her own way. Just like everyone else."

"Yes!" Starfire beamed, bobbing in the water with hands clasped together. "And our fashion of enjoyment is gradually getting saturated by a large body of salt water!"

"Dude…I'm so gonna freak if I get all pruned," Beast Boy uttered, looking at his elfin form beneath the waves. "On pink skin, it's A-Okay. But on my emerald beauty…wrinkle skin is just wrong. And I have yet to impress some babes!"

"But Beast Boy…," Starfire blinked her green eyes and cocked her head aside. "There are no infants on this beach. Where are you going to find some postnatal infants to enthuse?"

"Wrong babes, Star," Beast Boy slyly winked. "I'm here in town to put the moves on some swimsuited nymphs dropped down from Venus itself!"

Cyborg looked at Star and mouthed: 'Girls'.

"Oh!" Starfire jumped. "Like me!! Hehehehe!!"

"Awwww…but you're one of my best friends, Star!" Beast Boy scratched his neck. "And besides……" He blinked. He looked at Robin. "N-Not you, Star."

The Boy Wonder lifted an eyebrow.

"Ya know…," Cyborg broke in…resting back and floating over the crest of an incoming wave. "This vacation has gotten me thinking."

"About what?"

"A 'T-Boat'."

"A 'T-Boat'?"

"Yeah!" Cyborg exclaimed. "There's a lot of water in the City. It'd help to have some aquatic transit!"

"Dude…we already have a T-Sub! We can go under the water? Isn't that enough?"

"No way!!" Cyborg sputtered. "We gotta cruise in style. You get me? Besides…the T-Sub is huge and bulky. It can't navigate all the canals and dockyards of the City. And—is it just me—but are those spots getting more and more action as of late?"

"Good point," Robin nodded.

Beast Boy jumped a wave and pointed: "Okay fine! So maybe we need a Titan watercraft. But don't call it a 'T-Boat', dude!"

"Why not?"

"It needs a cool name!"

"Like the 'T-Speeder'!" Robin smiled.

"But there's a pattern, don't you see?" Cyborg exclaimed. "T-Car. T-Sub. 'T-Boat'. They're all practical names! I can't break that rhythm!!"

"Well, you'll have to," Beast Boy pouted with arms folded. "'T-Speeder' is cooler…and sexier!"

"What do you know about 'sexy', ya wrinkled apricot?!"

"A heck of a lot!! Think about it, dude! How's 'T-Boat' gonna strike fear in the hearts of seafearing criminals and drug lords? 'Uh oh, Mugs! Look out! Here comes the T-Boat!'"

Starfire giggled.

Robin laughed.

Cyborg fumed. "It wouldn't be like that, man…"

Beast Boy went on: "'Oh, watch out Bruce!! Ditch the coke, man! The T-Boat is chugging along after us! The little dingy that could! Oh, we're doing ten-to-twenty now!'"

"All right. Fine. 'T-Speeder'! That sound better to you?!"

"Hell yeah!" Beast Boy bobbed. "That grips my heart in a vice of pure terror! If I was a criminal, I'd be filled with the urge to drop my guns and flee to the nearest chaplain to get my soul straight! Or better yet, I'd just stand in one spot trembling and urinating in utter shock." A beat. He looked over. "Say, while we're on topic, remind me. While in the ocean, is it unethical to—"

"Don't even think about it…," Robin glared.

A fifth figure bobbed up.

Everyone look, and their jaws dropped.

"H-Hey…," Raven blushed…standing half submerged in the water and wearing a modest two-piece of dark blue.

A pause.

"H-Hi there…," Beast Boy blinked. "Wow….you are pale."

"Come here to scare the fish away?" Cyborg winked.

"No, I came here to say something," Raven droned.

"What's that?"

"Thanks."

Cyborg smiled.

"Oh…and one other thing."

"Yes, Raven?" Starfire smiled.

"Hold your breaths."

The Tamaranian blinked. "I beg your pardon—"

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!!"

The dark girl summoned up a telekinetic depth charge of exploding black, and water literally cascaded own onto the four unwitting Titans.

"YAAAH!!" "AAAAUGH!!" "WHOAH!!!" "HE HE HE HE!!"

SPLOOOOOOSH!!!!!

Raven hugged herself and tried not to smile. She didn't do a great job.

"Oh, Rae thinks she's Miss Poseidon! I'll take care of her!" Cyborg jumped and slammed the water with a splash.

"Ack!!" Raven flinched as the water splashed her, and the grin finally shattered forth.

The other three joined in splashing her, and she awkwardly returned fire.

The seas were not calm that day.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I sat in the sand. Facing the edge of oblivion. Oblivion roared and sighed and roared and sighed with blue tranquility.

I shuffled a deck of cards in my hands, flipping cards over and reorganizing them with nimble pointlessness.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

Oftentimes, I would feel like collapsing. Of imploding in on myself. There was a queer sort of comfort in submerging one's self with chaos. White noise. Shadows. In the darkness of my cellar room, in the shower with the water falling down and streaming hot…often I would just sit their on the tile floor…hugging my knees. Drenched. Invisible. On fire and soaked at the same time.

There on the beach, I was achieving that same breakdown. And oddly enough, it was no more and no less therapeutic. The only thing that had changed was the aestheticism of the situation. Oh…and yes…I had clothes on.

My black hair and the loose white shirt flapped in the breeze. I stared out at the glittering waves through dark shades, shuffled, and sighed again.

I glanced to my right to see how my friends were doing.

"Hi." A teenage girl was sitting right next to me.

I blinked. I raised an eyebrow and waved with a crooked smile of confusion.

She waved back and hugged her knees to her chest. Looking at me.

Okaaaaaaaaaay……

I looked back out at the waters. I shuffled the cards. I tried to think about cars……explosions……

"Is that arm metal?" It was a different voice.

I looked to my right again. There was a second girl sitting next to the first. She too was looking at me. We were forming a line.

I glanced to my left. I held up my titanium arm. I flexed it and glanced at them as if that was to state the obvious.

"Ahhhh….cool." They both blinked.

I nodded listlessly and stared back at the ocean.

Video games……barbecues……

"You look famous, somehow. Are you someone important?" A third voice.

This time my head whipped over. There were two more girls. One was talking, the other hiding her face.

Curious, I glanced back behind me. There was a private school retreat of sorts at the beach. Rich-looking teens gathered and commiserated around a throng of umbrellas, beach blankets, and coolers. A couple of adults were around them, wearing t-shirts that displayed: 'NCPrep' or something. I noticed a good percentage of the female half of youngsters had disintegrated, and there were trails of footprints in the sand collectively leading towards where I sat. Four trails.

I glanced back to my right and did a double take.

Make that six trails……

"Hiiii," half of them collectively slurred. There were plenty of blushes, bit lips, and avoiding glances to fill a Catholic lockerroom. The pinball of curiosity bounced between them as one among the pack of estrogen attempted to break forth a legitimate conversation with me.

I realized—in some egotistical fashion—that this was probably supposed to be every guy's dream come true. But I looked right past that detail. All I ever have are nightmares.

"So…like….are you?" the bravest of the girls asked. A redhead. "I could have sworn I saw you on the T.V."

I shrugged. I looked out at the ocean and tried to disguise myself as I took a shuddering breath.

Vin Diesel movies……choo choo trains…er, wait…choo choo trains?!?!

I shook my head and shuffled the cards maniacally. They were all still staring at me. I felt my right half of the face melt away in a last stronghold of anti-blushing shields. I suddenly envisioned the heads of all six girls collectively being skewered by divine pikes of serrated metal, leaking blood and hair and swimsuit scraps all over the absorbant sand. But I told myself that such was probably a psychosexual defense mechanism that even Freud would laugh at. I would have laughed too, but my mouth was dry.

"You can't talk…c-can you?"

I looked at them.

All six looked at me.

"Wh-Who are you?"

I glanced at them. I glanced at the cards. I glanced at them. I glanced at the cards again.

I smirked.

What the Hell……it's vacation…

I shuffled them and produced the Ace of Hearts. I held it up for them to see.

They looked at it.

I pulled out the deck separately and placed the Ace of Hearts face-down on it. I glanced at them through my shades.

They watched my hidden eyes.

I swiftly shuffled the deck, mixed and mixed the cards, then fanned them out completely and held them in front of the nearest girl.

She glanced and them…then back up at me.

I nodded towards the fan.

The girl pensively took out a card and flipped it face up.

"Um…it's not the Ace of Hearts," she simpered.

The others murmured.

I made a pouting face, took the card back, reshuffled the deck, fanned it out, and held it for her again.

She picked a card out quickly this time. She shook her head.

I made like to 'think'. I shuffled the deck again. Fanned them out. And had her pull a third.

Again, she smiled bashfully and said: "Nope…no look."

I looked stumped. I glanced at her head. I gasped. I reached to her ear suddenly—making her jerk—and when my fingers came back, they were holding an Ace of Hearts.

She almost fainted. The other girls gasped, laughed, and clapped.

"How…H-How'd you—"

I held a finger up.

They quieted down.

I lifted the Ace of Hearts in my right hand. I concentrated murk, and made it disappear in a shroud of smoke.

They gasped and 'oohed' and 'aahed'.

I swiftly clapped my hands together, stretched them out again….and the Ace of Hearts appeared in my left hand with smoke warbling.

"Wowwwww."

"Crazy!"

"He's got powers!"

"H-Hey!" a dark-haired girl leaned over the first one. "I-I know who you are now! You're that Titan! Th-That new one! The one with a sword and stuff!"

I took a breath….smiled…..and disappeared. 'All that was left was an impression in the sand and a deck of cards.

"Whoah!!" '"No way!!"

"He's gone!"

"Can he do that?"

"He just did!"

The girls jumped up—as if caught in a wild wind of panic and euphoria. They initially gasped and spun around in confusion…but collectively their exclamations of surprise settled down into amusement and giggles as many a story to tell when summer vacation ended filled their knowledge banks.

So caught up in such, they six failed to notice invisible footprints treading their way south along the beach and back to where the Titans' gathering location was.

I took my time, and five minutes later I materialized out of stealth mode…chuckling breathily.

So I had wooed them. So I had exposed myself as a Titan. So what? I disappeared without making any attachments. A cameo appearance with no consequences. And six vessels of sugar and spice left relatively happy in the hot sun.

I felt good. I felt damn good.

Who needs dreams?

'-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'"Yo! Noir!! Where you've been? Come and join us, man!"

I smiled gently and walked up to join the other five Titans in their brisk walk down the surf. It was getting into late afternoon. The sun was heading towards the far end of the continent. The Atlantic Waters to our left became darker and darker as we wandered leisurely south in the warm summer breeze. '"We were starting to miss you, dawg!" Cyborg smiled. "You missed all the good parts of the vacation! Like Raven nearly losing her top when B.B. tackled her into an incoming wave!"

Raven walked next to Cyborg's side and droned. "Yes…and you missed the ensuing attempt at homicide following that."

I winced and grinned nervously.

"It was a most glorious exchange of flying salt water!!" Starfire exclaimed, waving her hands happily. "As a statement of joy, our eyes shall be red for days!"

"Speak for yourself," Beast Boy beamed. "I don't have to worry about dry, human optics! I can switch my eyes to a dolphin's at any time!"

"Is that why you're always such a hornball?"

'"What was that, Cy?"

"Never mind…."

I smiled. I glanced in Starfire's direction. She looked………….pink.

"First time I ever went to a beach…," Robin suddenly reminisced, walking besides the Tamaranian. "…I was on assignment with Batman to stop Mr. Freeze. Turns out the cold villain was threatening to freeze an entire Bay if he didn't get the blackmail money soon enough to reverse his condition. I guess—even for a soulless terrorist—you get tired of being a walking popsicle for so many years."

"But I thought you were born and raised in Gotham!" Beast Boy uttered. "There's plenty of water there!"

"No way, man!" Robin shook his head and smiled. "That's not a beach! Docks are not 'the beach'. 'Urban hell' is most like it. I'm convinced that Hell has its fair share of waterways and estuaries."

"Yeah…probably full of floating, discarded gigapets. Ha ha ha!!"

"The poor gigapets!" Starfire gasped.

I shook my head.

"The first time I saw a beach….," Cyborg spoke, "…it was outside of Metropolis. Right after Superman first came to town. It was in April, and everyone was out flying kites. Even myself."

"The 'T-Kite'?"

"Pfft. I wished. It was a piece of half-cardboard crap that fell to the ground."

"Awwwww," Robin smirked. "Childhood depression is the most rewarding."

"Pfft. It wasn't so bad," Cyborg grinned. "Uncle Simon stepped on a jellyfish! Didn't know he could scream like a girl. HA!"

"'Yo ho ho ho, a jellyfish's sting for free…'," Raven hummed in stoic monotony.

"Heheheheheh!" Cyborg was tickled pink. "That's cute, Rae! Bet you wish you thought that up!"

"………………I did think that up."

"Oh…," Cyborg gulped embarrassingly.

Raven had the tiniest of smirks.

I glanced at her…but she avoided my gaze.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Man…this beach sucks!" Beast Boy wailed.

"Why so suddenly?"

"All the babes are gone!! What, does the beach have a beauty curfew or something?!" Beast Boy sighed and hugged his bare green chest as if he was suddenly cold. "I swear…where did all the chicks go?"

I whistled innocently.

"Robin?"

"Yes, Star?"

"What's a gigapet?"

"Uhmmmm."

"Well I have two words that'll cheer everyone up!" Cyborg grinned. "Well…maybe it's one word but—"

"Just tell us…," Raven moaned.

"BOARDWALK!!"

"Dude!! Yeah!! Woohoo!"

"Glorious!"

I looked up. A wooden structure stretched out to the sea. A ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and other brightly lit items of pageantry stood against the increasingly dark horizon.

"Well…when in Rome…," Robin smirked.

We all pressed forward.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'"Here are the chicks. HERE ARE THE CHICKS!" Beast Boy bounced. We meandered humbly down the boardwalk. Wandering groups of teenagers and young adults—many of which were estrogen-endowed—surrounded us. There were small amusement rides whurring and fair-styled games of ring tossing and the like, not to mention one or two quaint restaurants selling hotdogs and all manners of unhealthy American foods. To top it all off, a band was on a wooden platform in the center of the beachside fiasco…playing a gentle tune that made us all feel that we were all the way south in the Florida Keys when we really weren't.

"Cy, you are a genius!" Beast Boy drooled, his eyes turning into pink hearts as two blondes in short shorts and bikini tops wandered by—giggling about some fancy thing or another.

"Love you too, B.B.," Cyborg winked. "Just do us all a favor and don't get married overnight."

"Eek! Don't say the 'M' word!"

"Why?" Starfire blinked. "What is wrong with it?"

"You'll have to take that up with Beast Boy," Raven muttered. She glanced up with half-bored eyes at the ferris wheel looming ahead. "Oh joy…," she droned. "Rides."

"Yes!!" Starfire jumped. She leaned on Robin who was now sporting a white t-shirt over his trunks. "Robin, we must engage the Wheel of Ferrisment!"

"Er…s-sure!" the Boy Wonder blushed. "It doesn't seem any bigger than the one back near the City. You sure?"

"Absolutely! Hurry before the tide envelopes us all!"

"Star. This is a boardwalk. Only if there was a cataclysmic hurricane could the sea level rise up and—WHOAH!!"

The Tamaranian strongly yanked him off as she scurried towards the ferris wheel's booth.

"Well…that does look like fun," Cyborg rubbed his chin and smirked.

"I'll pass…," Beast Boy muttered, suddenly sounding depressed as he trudged off.

"No better way to do this than the gentlemanly way," Cyborg said. He swiveled around. He bowed and motioned towards the ferris wheel. "Miss Raven?"

The dark girl looked at him…at the ferris wheel…then at him again. She smirked slightly. "Sure…why not?"

I did a double-take.

"Thank you ever so kindly, madame," Cyborg uttered a british accent and offered his arm.

She faked-curtsied in her swimsuit and dangling, black overshirt. "Quite a privilege Let us proceed to the engagement at hand."

"Cherrio!"

They wandered off together in such goofy roles.

I blinked. I scratched my head.

"Well, will you look at that?"

I glanced over at Beast Boy.

He had returned. He hadn't chased down the 'chicks' after all.

"Two peas in a pod…er….four peas in a pod. And here the two of us are ditched."

I looked at Starfire and Robin. I looked at Raven and Cyborg. I looked down at Beast Boy below me.

He blinked, sniffled, and jumped me. "I love you maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!"

I fought him off, chuckling breathily.

"Heheheheh!! Come on…let's go wreck an arcade or something!!"

I nodded. But I couldn't help but let my gaze linger on Raven and Cyborg for an awkward second….

'But soon I was trailing after an eager changeling through the crowd towards the indoor arcade.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'"Ah…these huge and bulky wheels are always so rapturous," Starfire sighed on her side of the floating loveseat. "My home planet could do well with its fair share of circular ferrisment."

"I'm sure you've got the heart of the matter on your home planet," Robin smirked. He pointed directly outward as the two lifted up. "Wonderful vistas."

Starfire gasped, her green eyes sparkling.

Starlight rippled across an endless body of water ahead of them as they faced the Atlantic. The rocking of the seat distorted their vision, and for a moment it seemed as if the world and its gigantic bowl of salt water was teetering around them. Then the ferris wheel revolved, and their view was obstructed by a cobweb of metal lattices, and then the shimmering eternity returned.

"The beauty of your world never ceases….," Starfire stammered. "The sights…the landscape…the people. I wish I had come to Earth sooner. I feel that my time here has matured me greatly and taught me much about life itself. If I had been here longer…who knows what greater revelations I might have born witness to."

Robin sighed—retaining a weak smile—and stared out at the waters under night. "I wish I had your eyes, Starfire."

"You like the color green?"

"No…," Robin chuckled and shook his head. "What I mean is….I wish I could be…..c-could be innocent like you again, Star." He looked at her and extended a hand out into the air and towards the edge of the world. "I wish I could see past the oblivion of life and see what's beautiful. I look at the world and all I see is crime, madmen, psychopaths, and the eternally red, gothic night like that which I was born under." He sighed and glanced back out again. "It's because of what I see that I….I can't stop fighting."

Starfire nodded. "I understand…," she said softly, solemnly. "I fight to preserve a universe of good. You fight to diminish a world of evil. We are opposites in such fashion, Robin. Yet at the same time, we are the same."

He smiled slightly. "That's a good analogy Star. Never thought of that before."

She nodded.

Silence.

Finally, it ached inside of him. He shuddered, shook, and turned around. "Starfire…."

"Yes, Robin?"

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

Starfire blinked. "I…..r-remember not being able to sleep well—"

"Do you remember when I woke you in the middle of sobbing in your sleep? And you cried with me inside yours and Raven's tent?"

The girl stared at him. She looked down at two folded hands in her lap. "Vaguely…." It was an affirmative.

Robin's gaze fell to the floor. "You know….I-I was really scared that night in Slade's frigate."

"Y-You, Robin?" she looked up with rounded emeralds.

He nodded. "It wasn't that I was frightened of Slade. And it wasn't that I was worried about what would happen to me. But when you…wh-when you cried out on my behalf…."

A beat.

"You remember that, don't you, Star?" Robin remarked. "You said you'd give your life for me to live."

She slowly nodded.

"And Slade….he a-almost took it from you. It was the perfect setup. Screw everything he said about not 'obsessing over me' and stuff…he still wanted to tear my soul apart. And by doing that…he was willing to remove my best friend from my life."

Starfire swallowed a sore lump in her throat and looked away. "I….I-I should be sorry."

"Why, Star?"

"For the 'setup' that I gave him."

Robin shook his head. "No, Star—"

"I was wrong. I was succumbing to his torture."

"Star--!!"

"And I nearly ruined everything for you and the Titans—"

Robin leaned in and gently raised one of her hands from her lap.

A wisp of breath escaped her. She looked up with trembling eyes.

Robin stared. "Starfire…," he said firmly. "Thank you."

She leaned her head to the side.

He emotionlessly repeated it for emphasis: "Thank you."

Starfire bit her lip. She plunged forward and hugged Robin fiercely.

The Boy Wonder gulped and hugged her gently back.

She hid her face between his chest and her hair. She mumbled against his thin t-shirt: "Our heroics…our line of duty…it is a most treacherous and dangerous one, Robin."

"I know, Star. I know…."

"It would fill me with utter sorrow to ever see my best friend perish. I hope you never die, Robin. Ever."

"Same with you, Star…," the Boy Wonder fought with a breath to keep his voice steady. "Same with you…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'"So…what made you change your mind?" Cyborg asked.

Raven glanced aside. The sea air kicked at her blue bangs. "Change my mind about what?"

'"About joining us in our friendly endeavors!" Cyborg smirked with arms outstretched.

Their end of the ferris wheel rolled up towards the apex and faced the glittering sea beyond.

"It is of little importance…," Raven mumbled.

"To you, perhaps, Miss Stoic!" Cyborg retorted. "But we and the others sure as Hell enjoyed your company!"

"I find that hard to believe," Raven mumbled.

"Why?? Life is happy when you're always here to tell us how sad we should be!"

"How does that work?"

"Simple, we never listen to you!"

Raven smirked ever so slightly. "I suppose I can't blame you." She looked down over the edge of the seats as the boardwalk came back up at them. "All I ever seem to be these days is a total bitch."

"Okaaaaay, now I'm really worried," Cyborg leaned back. "Cuz not only are you cussing, but you're being unnecessarily down on yourself."

"No unnecessary things about it," Raven blurted. "It's true. I don't leave you or any of the other Titans any avenues of friendliness or conversation with me. And that is not fair at all. Just because I have to suffer with an insurmountable burden each time I use my powers, it doesn't mean you all have to as well."

"And I think you've more than understood that since the Titans started out, Rae," Cyborg said. "And it's shown. You've grown less rigid and stuff."

"But it's not enough," Raven sighed. "Sometimes it gnaws at me. But I have no choice. I have to maintain distance. Being too close can be damaging. Not just to myself, but more so to others."

Cyborg nodded. "We all know that. And you know what? We respect it."

"And yet, I still hammer in on all of you no matter how much room you try to make for me and my eccentricities…," Raven mumbled.

Cyborg smirked. "That's a nice way of putting it."

Raven sighed and ran a hand tiredly through her silky blue hair. "I'm trying, Cyborg. I really am. Believe it or not, I'd be lying if I said I absolutely despised the companionship of the Titans."

"I believe it."

"And you were right earlier," Raven glanced at him with a forlorn, blue gaze. "Trigon…he played a big part in the way I've been lately. I always take time to recover from one of his resurfacings."

"Is it all just about Trigon?" Cyborg asked.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

She relented with a nod: "Noir….."

"Doesn't take a Titan to tell there's a difference between you two. Hanging out less…always distant…"

"It's not all me, you know," Raven frowned. "Ever since Slade---"

"Noir's gone through a lot too," Cyborg nodded. "If it's more or less than what you've dealt with in all this 'Trigon' business…I dunno. But one thing's for sure, the combination of both is creating a wedge where once before there was trust and closeness."

"Perhaps so…," Raven nodded. A beat. She glanced back. "You've approached me so vehemently on this topic. Have you talked squarely with Noir about it at all?"

Cyborg shook his head.

Raven frowned again. "And why not?"

"Would you?"

A beat.

"No…I suppose I wouldn't," Raven breathlessly said. "As a matter of fact…I think we're all feeling rather awkward in trying to talk to him and be happy with him on a regular basis again."

"Happened with Robin after Slade coerced him."

"Yes….I-I remember…"

"But we soon all recovered," Cyborg smirked. "We're the Teen Titans, Raven. We always bounce back and form together again. Sure, the pain and hurt may still be there from wounds insurmountably deep. But life is not about clean slates. It's about constantly living to build the 'slate' before we all end up in the dark in our own little ways."

At that…Raven had to smirk. "I was wrong, Cyborg. It's you…it's you who is the most mature of the Titans."

"Well, aren't I special?" He chuckled merrily and leaned back. A blink. "Who exactly was number one on the list before I moved up?"

"Myself, of course."

"Pfft!!" Cyborg tossed his hands. "Why'd I ever question that?"

Raven chuckled.

Cyborg laughed.

The wheel turned.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'"Ha!! Looks like you're about to get owned, elf!!" exclaimed a teenage arcade wizard.

"Go own yourself back to your momma, hotshot!" replied our very changeling. "Hiyaaa!!"

On the screen of a lavishly constructed Soul Calibur II machine, Beast Boy's character—Kilik—swung a massive staff around and smacked it square into the chest of his opponent's Knightmare…sending him flying off the windmill and into the polygonal oblivion below.

'Kilik! WINS!'

The arcade machine shouted.

There was a fairly large cluster of nightly beachgoers gathered in the arcade behind the combatants. Most of them cheered. A scant few booed for the sake of the loser.

I stood to the side besides a DDR Pad. I smiled and clapped my hands.

"Unbelievable!!"

"That little kid beat five regulars in a row!"

"Is he from around here?"

"Dude, I think he's a Titan!"

"Dude, I think you're right!!" Beast Boy spun around and pointed randomly into the ground with a broad, toothy grin. "On behalf of the big City!! I come in here to thrash and thrash mightily!! Woohooo!!"

"Maaaan," one guy in the crowd sneered. "You like to play as Kilik?! Kilik's gay! He plays around with a big stick!"

Beast Boy expertly retorted: "At least he knows how to, chump!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" the crowd chanted.

The one heckler sauntered off into the shadows somewhere. Probably to die.

"I want to challenge him next!!"

"Yo, I was in line!!"

"Dudes…I digress," Beast Boy bowed. "It's been a lovely winning streak. But it has also been my only winning streak. For honor's sake, I now back out of the game. Someone please take control of Kilik before the computer turns him into a punching bag."

One or two wizards dashed up on cue to take over Beast Boy's game…and his quarter.

"For the rest of you!!" Beast Boy waved as he walked through the crowd and towards me. "Rock on!! And whoever the ladies are out there!! You know my number!! Well, maybe you don't know my number—but you know my face!! And that's good enough to kiss, right?!"

Teenagers laughed, clapped, and cheered.

A very smug Beast Boy marched his way towards me, sighed happily, and stood Peter Pan style with his hands to his hips. "Is fame good or what?"

I waved my hand from side to side.

"Pffft," he uttered. "Monk! Come on…let's go 'mingle'."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'Beast Boy and I 'mingled' at a table in the corner of the arcade. Somewhere in the distance, the Soul Calibur II 'tournament' went on unabashed. DDR Pads met their makers on a minute-by-minute basis. Various other machines of both modern and retro quality flickered and flashed a strobe of electronic goodness across the crowded, lively interior.

Beast Boy and I faced each other with an intermittent deluge of soda glasses and pizza slices on the tabletop. He sat cutely in a crouch atop his chair. I leaned back, playing with my straw in my drink.

"You know why I hate ferris wheels so much?" he muttered in a suddenly solemn fashion.

I looked at him curiously through my shades. I looked like a Calvin Klein ad with my legs dangly lazily through khaki shorts and my white shirt parting around my chest.

Beast Boy looked tiredly through my head. He said: "I was at a fairgrounds with Terra the night she betrayed us. While my close friends were battling hundreds of robots deep inside the Tower, me and my would-be girlfriend were having the time of our lives. Slade dropped in on us and revealed the truth to me. At the time…Terra and I were in a ferris wheel."

I took a deep breath and nodded.

'Now it all made sense…

'"When Sandy from Westhaven brought us all over to Vreeland's estate…I wasn't so happy about the amusement park rides and stuff. You may have noticed it then." A beat. He sucked in some more root beer through a straw, breathed, and added: "I used to like amusement rides. They'd always distract me with the 'danger' of it all and stuff. And for a while…I'd forget that my parents were forever lost or that I don't know what future lies ahead of me. It's all kinda like joking, Noir. You gotta keep the audience involved in the act…or else the show stops dead short. 'Life' is a very good audience, ya know?"

I leaned my head to the side.

Beast Boy suddenly chuckled.

A question mark raised over my head.

"'At least he knows how to, chump'." He looked up, smiling. "That was pretty dang good, wasn't it?"

I smiled.

He chuckled.

So did I.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Noir! B.B.!"

"Come sit down!"

"Yes! You must join us in the star gazing!!"

Beast Boy and I found the other four gathered at a round table positioned awkwardly on the wooden docks just right before the boardwalk stretched out into the waters. They seemed to have been finished with the ferris wheel a long time ago. Remnants of consumed hot dogs and soda cans dotted the table. They must have been talking for a while before we both got there.

"Star gazing?" Beast Boy quipped, pulling out a chair and sitting in it reversed. "All I need to do in order to stargaze is look for the nearest green energy bolt flying past me!"

Starfire giggled.

Robin, sitting beside her, smiled. "Word has it there's a certain record-breaker burning his way through the arcade."

"Pfft! Record breaker, Candlestick maker!" Beast Boy paused with a joke momentarily to digest the words that came out of his mouth before continuing on. "All I did was work up to the highest score and fall short from there on! I mean, I'm only a visitor in these parts! No need to ruffle the feathers of the natives, I always say!"

"Suuuuuure," Cyborg smirked, his arms folded.

I walked over and sat on a long wooden bench running underneath the boardwalk's railing. I leaned back and shuffled a new deck of cards I had purchased from a gift shop. Smiling.

"And how are you guys doing?" asked Beast Boy in an air of finality.

"Wonderfully!" Starfire smiled. "This vacation is most replete with shimmering water, hot dogs, and projectile vomit!"

Beast Boy and I winced.

"Er….," Robin explained, "…there was a kid moment ago who threw up over the side of the boardwalk. He stumbled off and soon after, some cops came and asked about him. Must be a drug bust or something."

"Imagine it…," Raven muttered. "We're actually sitting back and letting the police do all the work for a change."

"Yeah…heheheheh!"

"Hehehehe!"

I glanced over.

Cyborg and Raven were sitting together.

I glanced away.

"You know guys, I must say…," Beast Boy lifted a finger and dictated, "…even if the Green Arrow and Speedy now had their hands full with—like—a billion thugs, I wouldn't care."

"How fascinating…," Raven droned.

"Why's that, B.B.?"

"It's a matter of karma, Cy," Beast Boy smirked. "Slade kept yapping his head off about things coming full circle. And you know what?! They did!! He got his ass kicked and now we're sitting lazily on our unkicked asses!"

"Checks and balances, eh?" Robin remarked.

"I call it JUSTICE!" Beast Boy leaned forward.

"Nah, man," Cyborg shook his head. "Justice isn't absolute."

"I tend to disagree," Raven said. "Justice exists. But not fairness. The fallacy of human institutions is to try and solidify a relationship between the two incompatible elements."

"Or we could just have a sucky judicial system."

"……that's just what I said."

"Hehehehehehehe!"

"Man, Star. You're nothing but a giggle machine tonight."

"I admire your jocularity this evening too, Cyborg!"

"I think it's the salt water. It's making bubbles in our bloodstream…..er…….or something…."

"Fat chance of that happening, Beast Boy. In order to get the acute state of the bends, you have to first be submerged underwater with a fair amount of pressure exhibited on your—"

"Thank you…thank you…THANK YOU, ROBIN!! MR. WIZARD WITH A CAPE! Thank you….sheesh."

"I left my cape in the T-Car, man."

"I won't accept that. It's on you somewhere. The damn thing never leaves. It's like grafted into your skeletal structure. Your body's got a flesh pouch hiding it or something."

"Whatever you say."

"Hehehehehe!"

"There she goes again!!"

'Raven cleared her throat.

We all looked at her.

I paused in shuffling my deck.

"I think we've been spotted…," the dark girl mused.

"By who?"

"Everyone."

Slowly, the six of us looked over at the body of the boardwalk. Gradually, a crowd of multiple clusters of teenagers, youngsters, and random tourists were migrating their way over towards our table. An unmistakable halo formed. Once you're a national icon, you start to recognize the sights and sounds of mass acknowledgement.

"Uhhhh….," Beast Boy sweatdropped and glanced at the others. "Who phoned in my fan club."

"Dude…your fan club?!" Cyborg retorted.

"Hey….the Teen Titans!" some guy called out. "Is it really you?!"

Robin smiled and helplessly admitted. "In the flesh!"

"And metal," again, Cyborg fumed.

Murmurs. Gasps. Smiles.

"It's really them!"

"What're they doing here?!"

"Hey look, the Teen Titans!"

"Way cool!"

"This is a most fabulous beach, is it not?" Starfire simpered. "Beautiful waters and beautiful people!"

Chuckles and heartwarming responses.

"What brings you down here??" someone called from atop a bench in the center of the crowd.

"Migration," Robin said. "Two of us in the team are named after birds….so it's only natural!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"Robin, you're my hero!"

"Don't make it a habit!" the Boy Wonder responded with a pointing finger.

The crowd chuckled.

So did some of us.

"Seriously! You're on vacation??"

"What does it look like?!" Cyborg responed to whoever. "No wait! We're all dressed casually and are hanging around here because we just found out that Mad Mod is making a British remake of Beach Blanket Bingo tomorrow on this very beach!!" '

"Wow!!"

"Really?!?!"

"NO!!" Cyborg barked. "Sheesh! Mad Mod's been in jail for nearly three quarters of a year!! You telling me you don't read our Magazine?!"

"Dude…," Beast Boy remarked. "We have a magazine?!"

Raven nodded.

Under chuckles and resounding murmurs of cheerfulness, a voice squeaked forth: "Beast Boy!! You're my hero!!"

"Hey, allright! Somebody smart for a change!!" the changeling stood on his chair and pointed out to the crowd. "Whoever said that, you have my eternal devoti—wait!! You're a guy!!"

Laughter.

Beast Boy flushed red and crouched back down to his chair.

More murmurs. A denser and denser crowd.

"Do you think we should disband???" Starfire worriedly whispered.

"Nah…," Robin smirked. "Let's enjoy it a little more….ya know?"

"Yeah…," Cyborg added. "If we need to get away, we can take care of ourselves."

"Shouldn't we worry about the people?" Raven muttered.

Just then, some random stranger walked up, smirked, and crossed his arms. He seemed a good few years older than the teenagers around him. "Well…if this ain't a surprise."

"I know…," Beast Boy nodded. "We can't believe we're here either."

"What're y'all doing with him in your midst?" the stranger uttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Starfire remarked.

"Him!!" the stranger smirked.

All the guy Titans pointed at themselves. Myself included.

The man rolled his eyes and gestured towards me….as if what he was implying was obvious.

I raised an eyebrow from under my shades.

The crowd silenced as the man went on: "Yeah, you! The News kept talking about the trouble you were making in the City!! I thought you and the Titans were enemies!"

"Oh…you mean Wyldecarde??" Beast Boy. "Y-You see….about that—"

"I know what I saw!" the man smirked. "He totally kicked your asses! He even made threats to the people you tried to protect! Heh! Some vacation you're all on! Letting a criminal like that back into your flock shows you're relaxing too good for safety!!"

The crowd conversed in hushed tones of confusion, curiosity, and doubt. Some shock.

I felt dozens of eyes on me. I gulped as I sensed a case of the shivers coming over me. I nervously hid my metal left arm from their gaze…as if suddenly afraid my soul would leak out and get injected with shame.

Raven saw it. Her lips parted….

"You haven't been paying close attention…," Robin frowned. "If you watched all the news and listened to the words of Decker and authorities…Noir's been cleared of all charges. He was only trying to distract us from Slade's—"

"By beating you all up?!" the man chuckled. "I saw footage from that stage by the Bay in your City! I think he thoroughly enjoyed being Wyldecarde!!"

TH-THUMP!!!

Raven's fist slammed onto the table as she stood up, eyes flaring gray. "Shut your mouth before I staple it closed, jerk!! I know your type. You like to rouse shock and anger in a crowd. You sit back in your slab of a house, reading bits and pieces of slanted news sites and filling your head with dramatics to spill forth and stir emotion. And here you stand…accusing the sole person responsible for me and my partners standing here safely today. Noir's done nothing but give his mind, heart, and flesh in sacrifices to save our hides from Slade's impregnable evil and you have the gall to call him a villain for the very act of denying himself?! You…make…me…sick."

Hushed silence.

The man merely smirked and gave her a contemptuous glare. "You don't know me, lady."

Raven's blue eyes squinted. "Neither…do…you…know…my…friend!!"

I took a deep breath and looked down. My face stone.

Everyone was gradually staring at the stranger.

The stranger felt their doubtful eyes…and he didn't like it anymore than I did. He wandered off, smiling in some mock manner as if it would preserve whatever faltering ego he had left at the hands of the dark Titan.

And with the spirit of the air so suddenly painful, the rest of the crowd decided to part and amuse themselves with the boardwalk all around.

Raven's hands hung by her side. Fists clenching.

Cyborg gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Very well spoken, Raven…," Starfire quietly commented.

Raven was breathing heavily. Her eye trailed my way slightly…but she couldn't summon the strength to look at me directly.

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"Excuse me….," Raven whispered. She walked hurriedly off towards the far end of the boardwalk.

The five of us were alone.

Cyborg looked after her. Slowly, his human and red eyes swiveled over to me.

I looked back.

We shared a glance. And as it was so often necessary between the android Titan and myself, we 'spoke' to each other in absolute silence.

I nodded to my pal.

He nodded back.

I got up, pocketed my cards, and shuffled off amidst fresh shivers.

Cyborg sighed and adjusted himself in his seat.

"Heh….," Beast Boy hugged the back of the chair and stared at the wooden planks beneath them all. "Keep forgetting why we're on vacation to begin with."

"A reminder is always good…," was Robin's word to add to that.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Raven stood at the very end of the boardwalk. She looked out over the wooden railings at the dark waters. She hugged herself…holding down the thin black shirt that dangled around her blue swimsuit and shook in the wind much like her strands of hair did.

I came to a stop behind her. Staring at her. Staring into the wind.

Silent.

After half a minute, she spoke without looking. "I….I-I guess there's no more avoiding it…," she said.

I blinked under my shades.

She swiveled about and stared at me as solidly as she could. Strands of hair continuously whipped in front of her sockets.

"I am sorry, Noir…," she spoke. Immediately following her words, she took a deep…heaving sigh as if the sentence coming out of her lips took every bit as much strength as Hercules.

I leaned my head to the side.

"You know….," she said. She glanced down. Looking pensive.

I didn't like it when Raven looked pensive…

I stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She warily looked at my hand…then at me.

I bit my lip.

I took my hand off.

She breathed easier.

"It's because of me that we ever started to doubt you, Noir," she said.

I lifted a finger--

"No. I know what you're going to say. 'You were collectively framed by Jinx, Dagger, and Slade'."

I nodded fervently.

"But I was responsible on our side….," she said. "Maybe the three somehow arranged for Mumbo Jumbo to scatter my emotions and thus free Trigon. But whether or not that's the case…it no longer matters. All I know is that I was utterly and completely horrified by Trigon's possession of you. And when I was pieced back together….I denied that I was so closely hurt at all. I took it out all on you, Noir. I looked for every evil bit of evidence in you that I could find. And I forced Robin in on that search…and he got Cyborg in on it….and…..well….the rest is history."

I slowly nodded. I looked down.

She cocked her head to the side, swallowed, and spoke up at me. "Noir…"

I looked at her.

"What's worse….," she fought herself to say, "…is that I was so bent on proving your guilt…I even tried to get help from my father."

I stared at her.

"You aren't shocked by that?"

I shrugged.

She sighed and looked back to the Atlantic. "Why does that not surprise me?" A beat. "You're so selfless, Noir."

That isn't true………

"But….th-there's something else that I'm sorry about, Noir…," she said.

I looked curiously at her.

She swiveled about, hugged herself, and glanced at me sideways.

"Something else that I'm….very much sorry for…..and I couldn't have been the only one to see it. The truth is—quite simply—Noir….," she looked at me square in the eye. "I cannot…must not…and shall not get close to anyone."

Silence.

She sighed and continued. "It is far too dangerous….far too dangerous than any of us can imagine….for me to get close to anyone. Not Robin. Not Starfire. Not Beast Boy. Not Cyborg." A beat. "And c-certainly not you."

I took a deep breath.

"We were almost…..almost like that, Noir," she said. "And….I-I can't even believe I'm hearing myself say this. But it's true. We were almost more than friends. And that is such….such dangerous territory." She stared into my soul. "We have to keep our trust at the level of friendship and teamwork alone. Anything further….a-and I might hurt you again. I might turn on you again when the first thing you need is help."

I bit my lip.

"D-Do you understand, Noir? It is so very important that we stay as we are. Like this. Safe and…..distant."

Silence. Like an eternity.

I let some mysterious force nod my head for me. My soul was looking away.

Raven's eyes lowered and she swallowed with a shudder. "G-Good….." A beat. "Th-Thanks for listening." She walked forward.

I raised my right hand for some reason.

She drifted right past me.

And I was staring into oblivion again. My black eyes turned twice as hollow.

I sighed.

For a brief instance…the Pacific met the Atlantic in my head.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'The Titans were talking cheerfully about something. Gradually, the four of them were walking back through the night-shrouded sand towards where the T-Car was parked. Robin and Starfire were laughing about something and had their arms locked together. Beast Boy shouted like a maniac and chased crabs in the dark into sandy holes. Cyborg smirked and took the rear.

He heard shuffling to his side and glanced back to see Raven joining them.

"Where's Noir?" he asked.

"He's coming," she droned. "Eventually."

"Okay." He nodded. A beat. "So what'd you tell him?"

Raven stopped. She looked at Cyborg.

Cyborg looked back.

"Exactly what I didn't want to…," she said. "And yet…what I had to."

Some antithesis of a twinkle in Cyborg's red eye confirmed that he silently understood.

The two parted ways in their trek back to the T-Car. Silent while the others enjoyed the levity of the moment.

'-T-T-T-T-T-T-

'I stood at the feet of the tide.

Water lapped up to my bare feet.

Starlight glittered off the waves and up into my naked black eyes.

I had put the shades away.

I took a deep breath.

I thought of the events of the day. The rise and fall of this silly vacation we were all on. The need to laugh and the need to cry….

And I remembered what I told myself that morning in meditation. And with ever fiber of my being, I breathed in the last of the salt air before turning around and facing West once more…telling myself what I told myself then. 'It was a good day……

It was a good day………

I went to sleep depressed.