Return?
(A/N: Sorry if you've seen the previous chapter 18 and are wondering where the heck it went. I didn't realize it was messed up after uploading till I checked like days later. So I took it down and edited four times but it still ended up messed up anyway and I have no idea why. Then I decided to take it down permanently. It was rushed and I didn't really like it at all so I rewrote it. There are some elements of the other one here but it's different still. I won't spoil too much... Enjoy.)
Crystal was sitting on a rooftop in jump city staring at the Titans Tower. It had been several months since she left the tower. Her phone beeped. It was a message from Cyborg. "We miss you, hope you're doing ok."
She'd gotten a message from one of the Titans almost everyday since she'd left. She was surprised at their commitment because she never replied. She read them but she turned off her read receipts so they never knew if she actually saw them but they never stopped sending.
She was not sure if she wanted to go back. The Justice league had contacted her and the men had yelled at her so she ended up hanging up the phone.
That was months ago.
She had been in LA for a while and for the first time in her life had to use her name to get into places. Her father was very wealthy as part of his real life perks and annoyed with her or not, he'd never deny her so he sent her money to survive when he found out she'd left the superheroes.
About two weeks ago Wonder woman had convinced her to visit Jump City and on arrival, she realized it had been a year and a half since she'd left the Titans. She kept telling herself it was months till she actually believed it was months.
During her time back she'd seen the Titans and half of her wanted to let them know she was there but, she just shrunk back into the shadows before they could see her.
A couple of times Crystal had heard Raven said she felt a presence or Beast Boy would say he felt like he was being watched. Robin, when he was on night patrol, had often called out to "someone there in the shadows" but she never came out.
She didn't know if they knew that she was the one but were giving her the chance to reveal herself. Then again, whenever they decided to go after whoever they thought was there, she'd immeadiately teleport to somewhere else within the city.
Why she was doing this?
She didn't even know, herself. She often felt like a weird stalker and felt like she was comitting a crime.
Sometimes she felt like returning to the tower instead of her watching it from afar or watching the Titans from the shadows like a creep. At other times, she was unsure what she wanted.
She didn't know what to make of Wonder woman mandating her to stay a month to "think about it". 'Mandating,' she thought, 'what a fancy word for forced.'
"I tracked her phone to this area..."
Crystal was startled.
It was Cyborg and Robin. She lay down, turned off her phone and hoped they wouldn't find out she was there.
She felt ridiculous. Hiding from her friends like she was a criminal or something. 'Ex-friends now,' she thought, smiling ruefully.
"The signal just disappeared," Cyborg said, obviously dumfounded.
"What do you mean disappeared?!" Robin snapped.
"I mean she probably was here but she's gone now. I think we need to stop these chases. She obviously doesn't want us to find her. Let's stop hunting her like an animal. It's becoming disturbing," Cyborg returned.
Robin sighed, "it's all my fault."
He sounded wounded and small. He sounded broken.
He sounded like he'd been crying but he didn't have the strength to do so anymore.
"It's been too long ago now. If she's ready, she'll return," Cyborg said, soothingly.
Crystal heard the sound of the motorcycle but it was nowhere as loud as Robin's. It was near quiet after starting. Afterwards, she heard Cyborg blast off the ground.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked.
She was right.
Robin was riding the custom-made royal purple Ducati motorcycle he'd gotten for her when she decided to go on night patrols with him.
She smiled to herself. A genuine smile this time.
She remembered when he used to teach her to use solely her water/ice powers. The ones she was born with. The magic she'd had to learn.
He used to say she might find herself in a situation where she wouldn't be able to use the other powers but the water/ice would always be there.
He said she was way too powerful and if she used the other powers too much because they were easier, it could lead to various consequences. I mean she could make things disappear from existence with the snap of her fingers like freaking Thanos with a gauntlet.
He advised her to only use the formidable side of herself only for emergencies. But she found the training to be painful pleasure at first but she eventually got used to it.
She discovered she preferred to use her hydrokinesis as it felt like a pure power instead of the magic that often tainted her mood and made her feel like the magic, dark.
He told her to leave the magic for emergencies only or, which annoyed her and led to a fight, when he asked her too. She had been pissed. She had yelled at him for trying to control her and she'd teleported back to the tower to spite him.
He'd tried to order her out as her "leader" but she had ignored him. She remembered how startled he had sounded. Usually when he ordered the other Titans, they obeyed, albeit begrudgingly but they still did.
She heard him stomp angrily in the hallway.
She laughed remembering the whole episode. Beast Boy had told her Robin came up to him saying that she was the most stubborn person he'd ever met. Beast Boy said he told Robin that now he'd met his match.
The next morning he'd apologized to her in the kitchen while she was making breakfast saying he only said that for her own good. They had a little back and forth about it but she agreed, hesitantly. She was still low-key unsure if she wanted to entrust her powers to him, in a weird way.
Speaking of Beast Boy. She remembered the day she'd forced them to spring clean and Robin was forced to change his schedule.
She chuckled as she remembered her telling him that "spontaneity" was important in life and if he planned everything to the last detail, it would make life boring.
The spring cleaning day was one of the most exhausting days of their lives and they all crashed in the living room afterwards. They decided to order a pizza because no one had the energy to make anything especially after cleaning Beast Boy's room.
She shuddered at the memory. After they were done with the other rooms, Robin had to kick open Beast Boy's room because the shapeshifter had refused to open it when he heard she wanted to spring clean.
As soon as they entered, a strong smell hit them and she had dashed off to the bathroom to throw up
Even when she returned, she had clutched her hand over her mouth and nose, "we'll need gas masks for this."
"Okay, this is why we need windows, Robin!" Raven had snapped at him.
"I don't want y'all touching my stuff," Beast Boy had said, sitting on his bed and folding his arms.
"Stuff? Stuff?! What stuff?! This place is a health hazard!" Cyborg stated. "You could breed the mutant in here," Starfire added.
"My room, my rules. Okay?" Beast Boy stated adamantly.
Crystal had been infuriated and started breathing faster. Then she dragged him to the hallway and chained him.
He was irate. He changed into different animals and shook the chains violently and it seemed like no matter the size of animal he changed into, the chains would fit perfectly.
He cried out in anguish as he watched them clean his room. Tears literally streamed down his cheek and he kept yelling at them to drop his stuff. He told them how he'd gotten every rotten, decaying and disease riddled thing in there.
It was disheartening on several levels.
When they were done, Beast Boy was a mess. "No wonder you always get sick," she had said to him, "you think taking a bath and doing laundry can cancel out the shit in there?"
It had legit taken them five hours to clean only his room. They were all exhausted.
"It's for your own good, bro. Now you can sleep properly," Cyborg had said as he helped the shapeshifter get up after Crystal had unchained him.
Crystal was brought back from her memory by the sound of a petrol tanker passing by.
She stood up and sighed. She missed the tower and her friends and being a super hero. She was sure she'd go back as she disappeared into the shadows.
But, not today.