A/N: to all my readers, thank you and welcome back! Sorry for the delay. Got caught up in some halloween shenanigans. I love this chapter because we're seeing Blackfire and Starfire's past start to come to life. Let me know what you think and drop a review! As always fav/follow and I hope you enjoy!
Galfor led the titans down the long platform from the T-ship past the long line of guards holding spears in their left arms. With each guard they passed they filed off one by one behind the titans following their leader and his guests into the war room.
The uneasy feeling around the titans was visible on their faces. Raven couldn't help but keep glancing over her should from the corner of her eye towards the guards behind her. Terra could see the nervousness from her hooded friend and it caused her to look over her shoulder as well to see what Raven was looking at...
"What is it?" Terra whispered to her.
Raven looked back at Terra and see the worry written all over her face. She didn't even need to focus her energy to sense the intense butterflies in her stomach. She tried to calm Terra by composing herself and speaking softly and calmly, "I'm sure it's nothing," she whispered back, "but everyone is on edge right now. Even more so than we are knowing Star was taken by someone..."
"It's almost like they know something we don't," Cyborg said quietly with one hand cupping the side of his mouth as if trying to pass a secret.
"Not only that, but I feel like there's something they aren't telling us..." Beastboy add.
Cyborg looked at him with an annoyed expression as if telepathically saying I just said that... Leave it to Beastboy to take the edge off the tension surrounding them.
As they continued walking down the platform, a massive doorway into the royal castle approached with every step. As they stepped through they immediately noticed the decor of the castle had changed since they had been there a year ago. It was brighter, more vibrant, with a comforting allure of bright white walls etched with emerald green gems spaced with perfect symmetry every 10 feet or so. The color gave the the titans a sense of nostalgia like the walls reminded them of something... Or rather... someone.
The titans all looked at each other as if thinking the same thing and before they could speak they nearly ran into the person they were following who had stopped in his tracks staring intently at something. The titans froze in their tracks and looked up to where Galfor was focused and their eyes went wide...
"We could not thank her enough," Galfor said softly while he remained fixated on the gorgeous statue in front of him. The statue was an identical replica of Starfire. She had a fist raised in the air holding a stone replica of the crown Glafor wore. Her eyes were made of the same emerald green gems that lined the walls and she stood proud with a fierce look on her face like she had just liberated her people, "all of Tamaran was terrified of what could have been the darkest of times in our history. Blackfire would have no doubt brought great suffering to us all. She saved us from that torment." He bowed his head in respect to the woman he raised and couldn't be more proud of her.
The titans watched closely and were more than shocked at Glafor's words. They knew Blackfire was cruel but they didn't think she would doom her people. They just figured she would be a power hungry, entitled brat who would throw all kinds of tantrums over the smallest things. But a tyrant? That seemed a bit much to them. Though they hadn't had very many encounters with her, so what were they supposed to think? They all slowly began to abandon those thoughts as the statue of their close friend reminded them of what they were missing and the reason they were there...
After a moment of silence Galfor turned to face the titans. he extended a hand that pointed down a hallway to his right, "this way," he said with the upmost respect, "we have much to discuss."
--
The sun shined bright over Tamaran. The barren planet absorbed the heat of the sun like the black asphalt of a street on a summer day. The planet was harsh and food was scarce forcing the lifeforms that inhabit the planet to adapt to more unusual diet in order to survive.
Small cities looked like villages at the foot of the towering castle where the grand ruler lived. Even though they didn't have the same luxuries as the ruler they were happy and loved their leader with all their hearts. The chatter of a market filled the air around the small cities as Tamaran continued to flourish despite the odds.
In the distance, among massive boulders with jagged edges, there were two small Tamaranian girls. They float over the rocks as if looking for something. One of the small girls had jet black hair and dark purple eyes. Her clothes were simple yet almost uniform like with a tint of light purple that covered her body like a stylish suit of armor for children. She had a look of determination and a sense of purpose about her. She continued to scour over the rough and dangerous rocks of the wastelands like something important was hanging in the balance. She was so focused it seemed like she was stuck in an internal monologue when a small voice in her native language called out from behind her snapping her our of her intense focus...
"Sister!" The other small girl yelled. She had beautiful red hair with light green eyes wearing the same light purple suit the other was wearing, "over here! I think I found one!" She finished as she pointed into the jagged mess of rocks.
The black haired girl flew over to where her sister was floating with an outstretched finger. When she arrived next to the red haired girl, she looked closely at what lay at the end of the invisible line of her sister's finger.
A small group of jagged rocks that stood out from the others would seem just more of the wastelands that surround it. But only to someone who didn't know what they were looking for. However, to these girls... they could tell it could very well be something more.
"I think it's a big one Komand'r," the red haired girl whispered even though moments ago she was just yelling.
Komand'r raised her hands into fists and pointed them towards the small group of rocks. She girt her teeth and began concentrating all her anger in an attempt to harness it as a weapon. Her fists slowly began to glow purple.
"Pay attention Kori," she said through her clenched teeth. She closed her eyes and pictured something that caused her to grow more angry with each passing second, "you just need to get mad!"
Her eyes shot open to reveal a sinister glow of purple. She shout as loud as she could with all her anger behind her voice and a dark purple starbolt discharged from her fists landing on the pile of rocks with a loud explosion kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Koriand'r dawned a face of awe at the power of her sister. The look of admiration was unmistakable and Komand'r could see it all over face as if reading a book. She couldn't help but smile back at her sister. Smile at the look she wanted so bad. The look only one person would give her.
Her attention was refocused on the pile of rocks as a terrifying screech of pain and anger came from a creature among the rocks where her starbolt had just landed...
"Hey!"
Blackfire was roused out of her day dream by the snapping of fingers no more than a few inches from her face. Ravenger was trying desperately to get her attention and was visibly annoyed to the point she stood up and walked across the cabin of the flight deck where Blackfire sat at the controls of the ship. Ravenger bent at the waist to get to eye level and raised her fingers in between her and Blackfire's face and began making the annoying sound of snapping to get her to wake up out of her internal mindset.
Now that she had her attention she was eager to get her point across...
"Listen sweetheart," she said sarcastically, "you better not screw me on this. Catching your sister was no easy task."
Blackfire scowled back at her as if she didn't accomplish anything to begin with, "if it weren't for my plan, you wouldn't have captured her at all," she said trying to insult her, "you should be thankful I'm still honoring our arrangement."
Ranveger stood up straight and raised her hands with a shrug as if blowing off the insult slung at her, "eh... I had her before the weirdo with the over-inflated ego went rouge and decided to save her for whatever reason."
"Rouge?" Blackfire asked with an eyebrow raised and an unentertained expression.
"Yeah," Ravenger replied folding her hands behind her head as if preparing to lay down and relax, "think of Robin, but the guy only ever goes after what he wants. All the same skills. All the same gadgets. But he is definitely not a hero."
Blackfire's unentertained expression vanished and her curiosity peaked. This person seemed to intrigue her. Someone exactly like Robin but has more of a bad side? That is someone she wouldn't mind meeting.
"Is he cute?" Blackfire asked with a sense of sarcasm.
"Cute?" Ravenger shot back as she turned around to sit in the chair across the cabin of the flight deck. She plopped down lazily and threw an arm over the back rest before looking back at Blackfire, "the guy is a nut case! One second he wants her for himself, the next, he's working with her. If you ask me... He's got a thing for red heads."
Blackfire's face turned to disgust as her interest vanished once more as if that were already obvious. Only one thought came to her mind...
Of course he does.
