A/N: Welcome to Part V: Crossroads, the final Part of Firelight! We are almost at the end. Damiana is going to have some big decisions to make, and she may learn that the past is intertwined more deeply with the present than she ever could have guessed. She and Roy will also have to readjust to being back on Earth and to being Teen Titans again.
I know this chapter is short, but with everything that occurs, I feel that it doesn't need to be longer. This is meant as a transitional chapter to help ease everyone back into being on Earth after being on Dabnod for eighteen chapters. For those of you who have read this far, thank you! Enjoy the chapter! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans
Part V: Crossroads: Chapter Fifty-Four
The black void within the rift is supposed to be a place all its own. Within that void, there is no time, no space, and no connection with the outside universe. At least this is what Damiana had believed. The girl hasn't a clue how long passed in the rift, but it looks like she and Roy got Black Shadow's machine working in the nick of time. The two are spat out onto a hard linoleum floor, although they scarcely notice. All they can focus on is a deafening, eardrum annihilating, sound.
BOOM!
A tremor courses through the floor beneath their collapsed bodies. The black void ignites bright orange. Before the pocket fully closes, all that is seen is a wall of flame. The boom still reverberates through the air long after the pocket closes. The rift machine hits the ground of the Titans East common room with a heavy, metallic, clank. Nobody moves to retrieve it. Damiana stares blankly at the wall in front of her where the rift had previously been. Dabnod is gone. Again. She should be feeling something; sadness, or perhaps anger, or grief. Yet, she feels nothing.
Roy, on the other hand, does feel something. "It's just gone? Was it really destroyed that fast?"
The archer's strangled, desperate, unbelieving voice breaks through her mental fog. Emerald eyes gawk at her as if expecting a different answer. Of course, she doesn't have a different answer to give.
"Yes. Dabnod is gone. Long gone."
"An entire planet?! It seems so…impossible!"
Now, the emotions hit her. It's as if someone turns on a switch. The girl hugs herself tightly in an attempt to ward off the despair. "I know. I thought so, too."
"Oh my God!" Panic suddenly overwhelms every solitary feature of the archer's face. "What about Caen and Tenna? Do you think they made it? What if they died?! They can't just be…dead…can they?!"
"I left a note telling Tenna exactly where to find the escape pods. All we can do is hope that they made it in time." Warding off despair is futile. Tears trail down both of her cheeks. Sweet Fates. Hopefully, the stubborn mountaineer heeded her warning and ran for her life.
The two are locked in a tight embrace. Somehow, they have been locked in this embrace from the moment they came out of the rift. Their gazes haven't left the spot where the rift was located. It is as if they are on an island with just the two of them. Then, someone clears their throat. Slowly, the two release each other and look up at their surroundings. What meets them are the intense, unwavering, gazes of their teammates.
Bumblebee, Aqualad, and Mas y Menos gawk openly at Damiana and Roy as if they've never seen anything like them before. The reactions of the Titans West team aren't much better. Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy's eyes are locked on them in an unbelieving trance. Cyborg is the only Titan that seems able to shake himself out of his stupor. The metal man offers a hand to them both. Adriel is right beside him smiling softly.
"Welcome back!" exclaims Adriel.
For an endless moment, Damiana has to get used to the sight of the Ground Badger. He isn't a scrawny teenager, and a Dabnodian tunic and boots are nowhere to be seen. Neither is his Ground Badger Clan belt. Adriel is filled out and tall with lean muscles, and his clothes are a green t-shirt and blue jeans. She is on Earth. Damiana fully comprehends that she is back on Earth. Yet, she can't stop herself from jabbering at him frantically.
"Adriel, did you see Tenna and Caen before you escaped Dabnod? Roy and I have no clue what happened to them! We left the Royal Palace the morning before Tamaran invaded!"
The Ground Badger frowns. "No, I didn't see them. It was chaos. I had to fight for my life. If I passed them while fighting my way to the escape pods, then I didn't notice."
"So you don't know where they're at, either?" asks Roy.
"No, I don't, but don't you two lose faith. Tenna and Caen are both tough. They have to be alive somewhere. Tenna would never let herself and her son die so easily."
Suddenly, it occurs to Damiana why the Titans are staring. While Adriel's responses have been in English, she has been speaking in Dabnodian. Roy has been speaking in Dabnodian as well. Months of traveling with Tenna and Caen, and then with fifteen-year-old Adriel, must have made him grow accustomed to speaking the language. Damiana wonders if she and Roy have been conversing in the Dabnodian language this whole time.
"Uh…Are you two okay? Can you still speak English?" Cyborg rubs his neck awkwardly.
The answer is yes - they have been speaking Dabnodian this entire time. Then she notices something else that might make them stare; their attire. She looks from Adriel's clothes to the Titans' uniforms, and then to how she and Roy are dressed. Damiana wears a black hooded cloak over a royal blue, sleeveless, Grecian-style, dress that is ankle-length. She also wears brown, knee-high, leather boots. Not to mention, her hair and eyes. The only person to ever see her without her hair dye and contact lenses before was Roy. Now the entire room sees her lime green hair and irises in their full, undisguised, glory. Of course, her appearance is nothing compared to Roy's.
Roy is wearing loose-fitting black pants and a forest green tunic that comes to his knees. His leather boots are knee-high, black, and scuffed. However, nothing draws the Titans' eyes more than his Flying Arrow Clan belt. Blue larkack quills form the majority of the belt. Thick, metal, latches connect the quills. As for the buckle, it is silver, and it bears the delicately carved image of a bow and arrow. Ginger locks are not arranged in the short, neatly trimmed, haircut that the archer had always adorned. With the shagginess of his red locks, along with the hair on his upper lip, he nearly appears homeless.
The archer stares at Damiana, and then at Adriel, and then his emerald eyes scan the rest of the room. It is as if Titan Speedy is viewing the rest of his team for the first time. Then he looks down at himself and back at them. Damiana imagines hearing an audible click as if his brain is recalibrating from being on Dabnod to being back on Earth.
"Uh…yes. I remember how to speak English just fine. It feels weird, though."
It must feel as weird as he claims, because the English words come out of Roy's mouth sounding slow and uncertain. English is significantly harder for Damiana. This is a problem that she hasn't experienced since she was eleven years old, but her Dabnodian accent has fully and completely returned. Bumblebee, Aqualad, and even Roy raise surprised brows at her.
"I haven't forgotten either, but cut me a break. I haven't had to speak a single English word since Roy learned Dabnodian." The Titans hear 'aye' in place of 'I', and all of her short a's come out sounding like a long i. To an untrained ear, it would sound like a vague imitation of an Irish or Scottish accent. The girl rolls her eyes, as their gazes have not stopped penetrating her. She feels like she sprouted an extra head. "This is as annoying for me as it is for you. After a week of hard work, my accent will be nonexistent. Trust me."
They don't stop staring, the Titans East team doing their best to adjust to Damiana instead of Leila.
Meanwhile, Roy smirks. "It's fine if you don't drop the accent."
"It looks like you weren't pulling my leg after all, Sparky," Bee says to Cyborg, chocolate eyes wider than saucers. "Leila, you're actually an alien!"
Damiana smiles. "What? Why would you accuse me of such a thing?! I swear that all humans have hair exactly like mine." As she says this, her hair shifts to rose red and her irises to pale pink.
Aqualad returns the smirk. "It's good to see that your personality is still intact."
"But just so you're aware, my name is Damiana. Leila is a human name that I selected for myself. That isn't my birth name."
Bumblebee, Aqualad, and Mas y Menos observe her thoroughly. It's as if the name change is somehow more profound than her new accent and color-changing hair.
No comment is made regarding her name. Rather, Aqualad switches his attention to Roy. "So… You seem…different. You grew out your hair and learned an entirely new language in four days?"
Damiana's and Roy's spines turn rigid. The Dabnodian girl's features immediately transition back to lime while the redhead's jaw unhinges.
"Woah. You think we've been gone for four days?!" exclaims the archer.
"Yes…" Bee expresses hesitantly. "Haven't you…? That's how long has passed for us."
"No. It hasn't been four days for me and Dami. Not exactly…"
Cyborg asks, "If it hasn't been four days, then how long were you gone?"
"Four months," they confess jointly.
First comes silence. Then comes the explosion. It is the East team's leader who explodes. The winged girl is so stunned that she flies five feet off the ground. "Four months?! You're telling me that you both stayed on Dabnod for four months?!"
"It's not like we had a choice," Roy retorts. "We weren't taking a Hawaiian vacation! We ended up in the middle of nowhere and had to get from the wilderness to the Capital City. The Capital City was the only place with the technology we needed to fix the rift machine!"
"Not that going to the Capital City helped, anyway," Damiana adds. "In the end, it was Adriel that got us home alive. Thank you, Adriel."
"You're welcome!" Cherry red eyes sparkle as he grins.
Bee, ever the skeptic, looks the Ground Badger over inquisitively. "So you weren't lying? You met them in the past?"
"Yes. Adriel helped Damiana and me a lot, so lay off of him, please. Whatever he's done, we're both home safe now, so there's no harm done."
"To be perfectly honest, my sending you through that rift was me trying to be helpful. If I hadn't shoved you through the rift, our entire timeline would likely be irreversibly messed up, so you're welcome." Adriel's chipper grin feels out of place, though none of them can deny the reality of what he's saying. A few seconds later, the grin shifts to a frown. "But right now, fogloreit with the timeline. Are you both alright?"
The girl finds herself glancing back at the spot where the rift closed. Roy does the same. Then they turn back to the Ground Badger.
"We're alive if that's what you mean," Damiana replies in Dabnodian, catches herself, and repeats the same response in English.
"I've spent the past four months living with the assumption that I would die in a fiery explosion, and I'm standing here before you very not dead, so all things considered, I'm great."
Roy tries to smirk, but it visibly falters. Damiana's rose red curls gain the slightest hints of bruise-colored purple. He just lied. He isn't alright at all…
Before Damiana can dwell too deeply on the realization, the double doors leading into the common room slide open loudly. The girl hadn't anticipated how profoundly she would despise seeing him. When the golden hair and amber eyes of Saeran are seen loitering in the doorway, it's as if he is a complete stranger. Chills creep across Damiana's flesh. She doesn't realize it, but her hair and eyes have fully shifted to bruise-colored purple. The only thing that makes the rest of the Titans notice the room's new occupant is this drastic transition in her coloring. Only after drinking in the sight of her hair and eyes do the others turn to face Saeran.
The water user doesn't notice Damiana's dark purple hair and eyes. He doesn't notice the expression of aghast horror painting her pale, doll-like, features, nor does it come to his attention when Adriel and Roy step protectively in front of Damiana. Saeran shoves past Adriel, bowls Roy over, and pulls Damiana into a bone-crushing hug.
"Praise the Fates that you're alive! I was starting to fear the worst!"
The girl doesn't say anything. Not because she doesn't want to, but because the Fates have rendered her speechless. She squirms out of Saeran's embrace, pushes him a full arm's length away, and backs up by five feet. Saeran tries to step closer only to have Damiana back away simultaneously. Her features are darkening fully to ink and onyx. Roy boldly steps between them once more.
Finally comprehending what's happening, Saeran snarls. Golden hair and amber eyes are suddenly as black as those of his 'sister'. "What's the matter? What happened to you?" Features shifting again, this time to midnight blue, the water user gestures to Roy. "Did he do something to you?!"
The would-be Queen hugs herself tightly. "Stay away from me." Her words finally emerge in English on her first try. The entire room falls open-mouthed. None appear in more shock than Starfire.
"That playboy did something to you, didn't he?" Saeran appears ready to draw a stream of water out of his canteens.
It is Damiana's words that bring this action to a halt. "You're not my brother! We're not related; not even a little bit! So don't be protective of me!" This time her shouts are in Dabnodian.
Saeran's features are black once more in the blink of an eye. "H-How do you k-know that?!"
"How do you think? I've been on Dabnod! I was in Sclarthon, in Avarin, and in Torhael at the same time as you before the explosion."
He sighs. "I was afraid of this…"
The would-be Queen grimaces bitterly. "You…You're a terrible person!" Although she fights it, tears begin forming.
"Terrible because I'm not your brother? I can't help it if I came from a Raxtin House! I was raised as your brother, so your brother is exactly what I am!"
"No. This isn't because you aren't actually my brother. That's only the beginning! Saeran, you….y-you scare me…"
He sighs. The water user sounds an odd mixture of perturbed and defeated. "What did you see?"
"What didn't I see?! You were awful to Jaegana and your son at the Raxtin House! You got Prophet Veng and the Fire Lily Tribe killed, then you earned a medal for it! D-did you participate in torching Province Five, too?! And how many people did you report to Queen Guayusa during that last week on Dabnod?!"
Saeran looks as though he is going to speak. Then he closes his mouth. Damiana inches closer to Roy. First Cyborg moves. Then Aqualad and Bumblebee move. Then Mas y Menos cross the room, followed by everyone else. Gradually, all the Titans move until there is a solid barrier between the two people who were assumed to be siblings. When someone speaks at long last, it is astonishingly not Saeran.
"Wait… Saeran, you have a son?!" Raven pulls her hood down so that her dumbfounded violet eyes are in full view.
Cyborg answers, "Hold on. Are you saying that you understood all of that?!"
"Yes. I'm fluent in Dabnodian. So is Starfire."
Once Saeran finally responds to Damiana, Raven's wavering voice no longer seems to matter.
"Everything I did, I did as a Knight of Dabnod. My job was to follow the orders of my Queen."
It takes every ounce of effort that she can muster, but the girl replies in English. "Even if the orders that Queen Guayusa gave you were wrong?"
"They weren't wrong! Jaegana loved Skaei, and those people were all traitors to the Monarchy!"
"Here on Earth, traitors to the government aren't burned, Saeran! If an actual crime is committed, Earth's criminals are put on trial."
Saeran laughs. "Dami, you've been on Earth for too long. Dabnod wasn't Earth, and it shouldn't have been Earth. We had our own way of doing things on Dabnod."
"I think you're mistaking Dabnodian culture for savagery, Saeran. Our clothing, food, music, and the stories of our people were our culture. Burning everything to the ground was not part of Dabnodian culture. What I saw those past four months was brutality. Are you telling me that brutality isn't wrong? That it's just another part of Dabnodian culture?"
"We were at war, Damiana. Her Majesty couldn't afford to do battle on the homefront and the war front. Taking extreme measures was necessary."
The blank, uncaring, expression on the water user's face tells Damiana all that she needs to know. She guessed it based on the behavior that was observed on Dabnod. Yet, hearing him say such things directly to her is still surprising. Saeran truly does not care. Between the Fire Lily Tribe, the martyrs of Province Five, and whoever he reported to Queen Guayusa during Dabnod's final days, dozens of people likely died at Saeran's hands. Yet, he doesn't regret it. Based on his expression, he doesn't regret the blood staining his hands even slightly.
Her voice trembles. She can't believe what she is about to say. "I don't want to be here with you. I saw too much on Dabnod, and I can't unsee it or your role in it. I can leave or you can leave, but we can't both be here."
Saeran's short ponytail is neon green. "Damiana, you just got back, and you've been through a lot. You were kept very innocent as a little girl, so you don't understand the sacrifices that are required of a ruler. Our Queen did what was necessary." It is with hesitation that he decides to take the risk of reaching between Raven and Starfire to grasp Damiana's shoulder. "Go to your room. Take some time to rest. We can talk about it over a hot meal when you wake up. How does that sound?"
Orange-tinted fingers dig into Saeran's wrist a scant inch away from the would-be Queen's shoulder. It is felt as the room collectively holds their breath. Starfire's eyes are flooded with barely contained rage, though her voice remains calm and even. At this moment, Damiana has never been more in awe of a person's composure.
"I believe this person who you call your sister is requesting 'the space' from you. She has said that you frighten her."
A scowl so dark paints the water user's face that a younger, more naive, Damiana would have soiled herself. "I have had it with you." Saeran yanks his hand from her grasp and draws a stream of water from his canteen. "I've put up with you for too long!"
Water droplets crystalize into icy daggers, which he prepares to launch at the Tamaranean. The girl hasn't the foggiest clue what comes over her. Flashes of the ashy ground of Province Five invade her mind. The screams of the Fire Lily Tribe and those unfortunate souls in the Palace Courtyard echo in her memory. Jaegana's pathetic begging to go see Skaei and Saeran's dismissive attitude during their visit to the Raxtin House overwhelms her. All of these thoughts come to mind at the exact same time, culminating in a long whip of fire. Before Saeran can unleash an attack against Starfire, whose eyes are beginning to glow green, Damiana wraps her fire whip around her brother from hand to elbow.
He shrieks and collapses to his knees. Damiana releases him. All of the Titans back away from her slowly; all besides Roy and Starfire. Astonished by what she just did, the girl stares at the hand that made the whip, curls turning to charcoal with streaks of lime. Then her gaze shoots to Saeran.
"I…I-I wasn't thinking. I j-just acted. I swear!"
"It's alright, Damiana," says Adriel in perfect English. "I'm sure that your fire whip hurt a lot less than being trapped in a house that's on fire or being burned alive in the Palace Courtyard."
Saeran's features turn midnight blue as he looks at the girl he calls his sister. "How dare you turn your fire against me to protect her?"
"Starfire has done nothing to you, Saeran! I-I'm not sure she ever has…"
He laughs bitterly. "So you're taking her side?"
"I'm not taking anyone's side! I…" The girl's curled ringlets and wide eyes shift colors once more. As of right now, they're sapphire blue, and they're blinding. "I…I just don't trust you not to hurt her - or anyone else, for that matter. I don't trust you."
"So that gives you the right to turn your fire against me? Your brother?!"
"You aren't my brother, Saeran! And…if it means stopping you from doing something stupid and reckless…then, yes, I will burn you."
More bitter laughter ensues. Saeran's laughter begins bordering on psychotic. Damiana doesn't miss as Roy draws his bow, Robin his bird-a-rangs, and Cyborg his cannon.
"I don't believe this. I worry about you for days, horrified that you're dead, then you decide to betray me once you get back. Unbelievable!" Midnight blue irises turn towards Adriel. "I blame you for this. You have always ruined everything."
Adriel says nothing. Saeran stands, walks past the Ground Badger, and leaves the common room. Adriel doesn't make a single move to stop him. Nobody does. Before the common room doors slide fully shut behind him, the water user hollers loudly.
"Stay here with the Titans for all I care. Play house with your playboy, whore around with him, and pretend to be a superhero. Waste your whole life with these people, Damiana! You'll regret it, and when you do, you'll come find me!"
The common room's doors slam shut with a thud. All the room's occupants stand there in silence.
Roy feels physically incapable of removing his eyes from Damiana. The hand that formed the fire whip is visibly shaking. Her hair and eyes have not changed from their neon shade of lime green for the past fifteen minutes. Bumblebee eventually rests a hand on the small of the fire user's back and guides her into the kitchen. All the while, Damiana gives a rambling explanation that nobody asked for.
"I only raised my fire against Saeran because he's dangerous. I would never raise my fire against any of you. I swear to the Fates!"
Her trembling voice and thick accent make understanding her difficult, but everyone manages to decipher what she is saying. Truth be told, Roy doesn't mind her accent. It makes her sound exotic. However, that is the last thing on his mind considering what just happened. The girl just used her fire against Saeran. He never imagined that he would see the day!
"Leila-ah…Damiana, it's alright. You did what you did, and it's alright." Bumblebee opens the pantry door. "Do you want some soup? We have chicken noodle or beef vegetable."
The girl appears flabbergasted. It is as if Bumblebee offered her weight in gold instead of a can of soup. "Hold on. I'm allowed to stay? When you learned I'm from Dabnod, I thought you would kick me out of the Teen Titans!" Her gaze flickers briefly to Starfire, and then back to Bumblebee.
The Titans East leader's hand freezes over a can of chicken noodle soup. "What? No! We never planned on kicking you out!"
"We definitely planned on talking to you, but we never planned on kicking you out," Aqualad clarifies. "When we learned, we were skeptical, but we were still open to you."
"Now that we know you're not like your crazy brother, we're a lot more open to you," Robin comments from across the room.
Damiana grimaces. "Saeran isn't my brother. Please don't call him that."
Robin nods stiffly. "Okay. We won't."
Silence lingers as Bumblebee microwaves a can of chicken noodle soup for their shuddering teammate. Roy rests a hand on Damiana's shoulder. The girl smiles at him softly.
When someone breaks the silence, it is none other than Starfire. The Tamaranean has been standing beside Robin. Hesitantly, she saunters closer until less than four feet separates her from the Dabnodian girl. Damiana is clearly anxious. Ringlets shift to muddy brown and eyes to putrid green.
"I thank you, Lady Damiana, for coming to my defense. In the words of your people, 'Xaerintinos'."
Damiana's hair shines so neon that the archer has to shield his eyes. Xaerintinos. This is the single Dabnodian word that language transference didn't pass to him. Damiana told him that the sentiment is similar to 'thank you', only much stronger. The would-be Queen's self-made definition of the phrase had been 'I owe you a great debt'. Thus, it makes perfect sense why she is so astonished. The phrase never seems to be used lightly in her culture. This must be especially true, being spoken by a Tamaranean.
At last, the girl replies, "That isn't necessary. I acted impulsively, Princess Starfire. I would have done that no matter who Saeran threatened. "
"Yes. I believe you would have. You are most honorable, Lady Damiana."
Damiana swirls her soup around in her bowl without eating it. "You don't have to call me 'Lady'. I haven't been the Lady of anything in a long time."
"Very well. If you do not want to be called 'Lady', then I ask that you do not call me 'Princess'."
Damiana's thoughts can be read in her eyes. She is uncertain if this conversation is real or if Starfire herself is real. It takes an eternity, but her ringlets shift back to rose red and her eyes return to pale pink. Eventually, she gives a calculated nod.
"Alright. That's fair. Just don't read too much into anything I've said or done."
Starfire also nods, her eyes measuring Damiana with caution. Yet, there is no denying that the Tamaranean appears hopeful. "That is also fair. I shall…take my leave now. I feel the need to rest."
With a smile a little too bright, she exits the common room quietly. The archer peers at the oven clock. Emerald eyes widen, as if slapped. The time is currently three-thirty in the morning! When the Titans East leader made it, Roy hasn't a clue, but Bee places a ham sandwich on the kitchen table directly in front of him. He stares at it blankly. Aqualad pulls out a chair and shoves him into it.
"Eat," they two demand in unison.
Roy didn't realize how hungry he was until biting into the food. It must be the same for Damiana because she finishes her soup and then makes a sandwich of her own. Aqualad, Bumblebee, and Mas y Menos stay with them in the common room. The Titans West team exits, likely to find their guest rooms and go to sleep. Only when they are completely alone does Bumblebee speak.
"You both look like you were hit by a train. I don't know what exactly went down on Dabnod, but based on how you look and on that fight with Frostbite, it was intense." She sighs, sounding equally exhausted. "Will you both be okay?"
The redhead smirks. "I've been through worse. I'll be just fine, Bee."
Answering takes a lot longer for Damiana. Although her coloring doesn't change from rose red and pale pink, the girl hugs herself tightly. "I will feel better in time. While we were on Dabnod, I learned a lot about my home that I was unaware of. Dabnod was a complicated place. My very existence is more complicated than I was aware of." She pauses briefly, and then continues, "But as complicated as my identity is, the significance is null and void. Dabnod is gone, and so is the significance of being 'Damiana of the Fire Phoenix Clan'. I still have a lot to process, but eventually, I will lay everything that happened to rest along with planet Dabnod."
"Lo siento, Damiana," the twins sympathize, covering her hands with theirs. "Tu hogar ya no está y estás triste."
"No, I'm not sad because my home is gone," she clarifies. "I'm sad because of what my home was. Dabnod wasn't the utopia that I thought it was. Dabnod was a dark and terrible place."
Bumblebee rests a hand on her forearm. "We really are sorry. Just don't be afraid to come to us, alright? We're your team. That's what we're here for." She rests her other hand on Roy's forearm. "The same goes for you, Mr. Cool. Talk to us. Don't be distant."
Without mulling over whether or not he means his response, Roy nods. "I will."
They finish their food in silence. With nothing else to say and no other reason to remain in the common room, the Titans East team also goes to bed.
Damiana is in the Palace Courtyard. She stands on a wooden dais five feet above the onlookers. Saeran is front and center, standing directly beside the woman who raised her. Their features are blacker than the night. Adriel is absent from the crowd, but strangely enough, Aerad is there. So are his wife and Jaegana. Damiana recognizes the rest of the crowd, too. Knights, Scribes, Courtiers, and servants, all of whom she passed in the Palace corridors at one point or another. Lilac hay is visible in her peripheral vision. Rope scratches her arms. A wooden pole leaves splinters in her neck.
Infuriated shouting comes from beside her. It is Queen Guayusa. "You've betrayed your Queen and you've betrayed Dabnod. What do you have to say for yourself, Damiana?"
"No! Your Majesty, you wouldn't! Not to me, your own daughter!" she hears herself pleading fiercely.
"I can, and I will. You're a traitor!"
A wall of black flames engulfs her. Screams identical to the rest of Queen Guayusa's victims are heard. Only this time, the screams come from herself. As a fire user, Damiana has never been burned. The black flames of eternal night are the only flames that could ever hope to harm her. Yet, her mind comes up with some comparable pain. The inky flames rise, and her body shrieks. It feels like one thousand knives piercing her pale flesh. The girl thinks that she is about to meet the Fates face-to-face. Then, all of a sudden, she sits straight up.
The girl is surrounded by violet grasses, but not those of her home planet. In the dim light wafting in the windows from the city, she sees her bedroom walls. The valley behind her cabin paints one wall. The pond outside of her cabin paints another. The third bears the image of the city center during the Annual Migration Festival. The fourth wall, a detailed work of the Royal Palace, leaves a silent shriek trapped in her throat. Instead of the Royal Knights in the painting waving happily to her, she imagines them watching her burn.
Tears stream down her face. She can't breathe. She inhales and exhales rapidly, but no air fills her lungs. Sweet Fates! She can't breathe! She must escape this room!
Without putting as little as a cardigan over her blue spaghetti straps and matching pajama pants, Damiana flees her bedroom as if fleeing Satan himself.
"Dami, this isn't working! The rift won't open!"
The sun is setting. Tamaraneans are descending upon Dabnod and are on course to the Royal Palace. Adriel hasn't shown up. Roy doesn't think that he ever will. The rift machine still isn't working.
"We'll get it working, Roy! I swear to the Fates!"
Then, the ground beneath them begins quaking. The sky ignites into bright plumes of crimson, orange, and yellow. Deep, innumerable, crevices tear the forest around them apart, swallowing entire sections of trees. Then, the orange plumes engulf him. His skin is burning-
"AHHHH!"
The scream is not his own. Soaked in sweat, Roy leaps out of his bed. The leap fails. The archer's feet become entangled in his sheets, and his jaw meets the floor with a thud. While becoming disentangled, he listens carefully. The screams come from the wall directly to his right - from Damiana's room. Upon regaining his footing, Roy dashes toward the exit. It takes him several extra seconds to remember that there is no real danger. Dabnod is not exploding around them right now. In all reality, Dabnod has been gone for the past five years. Suddenly, the archer feels silly. Why did he rush out here, again? Nothing is happening to Damiana. He was only having a nightmare! Based on her screams, she is likely having a nightmare herself...
As if summoning her, the girl's bedroom door flies open. Her curls should be rose red, but they are blacker than coal. She collapses to the ground, a tiny hand clutching her chest as she heaves in deep, panicked, breaths. Choked whispers come out in Dabnodian.
"Sw-Sweet Fates! I can't go back in there. I can't!"
Roy approaches. Due to her position half in and half out of the entrance, the automatic doors have not slid fully shut. When he catches a glimpse of her walls, it feels as if the wind has been knocked out of him. Dabnod. The walls look like Dabnod. He remembers this too little too late. The sight of each wall is too much, but the particular painting of the purple valley covered in flowers is overwhelming. In his mind's eye, the archer sees it being blown apart in a fiery explosion.
For her own sake as much as his own, Roy pulls her fully into the hallway so that the door slides shut. Damiana jerks as if the touch burns her. She clearly hadn't noticed his presence. The girl appears ready to scream. In desperation to quiet her, as well as to ease his own flurry of anxious emotions, the archer gives her a quick, gentle, peck on the lips. He doesn't notice until after the fact, but the words that exit his lips are in Dabnodian.
"Shhh. It's okay. Relax. It's only me."
Her response is also in Dabnodian. "Roy? I'm sorry. See, I had this dream, and I was completely out of it! I thought- Mmm!"
He cuts her off mid-sentence with another kiss. This one is longer than the previous, but it is still gentle. "It's alright. I was having a nightmare, too. Just hold onto me, okay? We'll both be alright."
The archer practices what he preaches. He is clutching Damiana snugly around the waist. All the while, her arms are locked tightly around his neck. Roy expects that they will be able to walk to a different room at this very moment where they can be hidden. This doesn't happen. In fact, the idea of being hidden leaves his mind completely. First Damiana sobs. He tries to say something comforting. Instead, this causes him to sob as well. The archer sobs silently into the girl's neck. Although he doesn't make noise, Roy's body shakes with quiet tears. Meanwhile, Damiana's crying is just audible enough to echo down the hallway. To the untrained ear, her cries would sound like ghostly wails.
A splash is heard as Aqualad emerges from his pool. The aquatic Titan is about to ask if everything is alright, but he doesn't. He sees Damiana and Roy at the junction between their two rooms, and he sees them intertwined and weeping. At the corridor's opposite end stands Bumblebee. Aqualad and Bee make silent eye contact, nod in acknowledgment of the other, and then retreat. Bumblebee goes back into her room. The aquatic Titan returns to his pool.
At long last, they manage to stand. "If you try to sleep in your room tonight, you're nuts. Come sleep in my room."
She doesn't protest. The girl immediately follows. Roy's brain does not process the oddity of having someone else in his room. Before now, the archer could count on one hand the number of times another Titan has entered his bedroom. Yet, this doesn't feel strange at all. He peels back the covers, allows Damiana to crawl in, and then gets in directly beside her. After four months of sleeping in her vicinity, this feels far less odd than being alone. Tonight, however, they barely sleep. They are each incredibly fitful, thrashing and screaming for the other to soothe. Neither of them sleeps longer than forty-five minutes in one increment.
The first to awaken in the Tower the following morning is Bumblebee. The winged Titan doesn't make it to the common room, where she'd intended on getting breakfast. Instead, she stares at the metal door labeled "Speedy" in bold, black, letters. Shrieking is heard through the door, followed by Firelight's voice. She speaks in her unfamiliar, alien, language, attempting to calm Speedy. Bee's chocolate eyes flood with shock. She has never heard Speedy scream; not ever.
Bee hasn't a clue that she isn't alone until Robin says something. "Give them time. They've been through a lot." He frowns. "Starfire told me everything that was said between Firelight and Frostbite. They went through a lot more than Dabnod being destroyed. It sounds like Dabnod was under a dictatorship toward the end, and they had to experience it firsthand."
The winged girl purses her lips tightly. "Robin, you're a good leader. How would you navigate a situation like this?"
"I would do what you're already doing. You don't have to change a thing. Speedy and Firelight know that they can talk to you and Aqualad if they need to. They'll come around."
Bumblebee nods but doesn't respond verbally. When the two team leaders finally retreat from the corridor, It is dead silent. Within the confines of Speedy's room, Damiana and Roy have finally fallen into deep, dreamless, sleep.
A/N: This chapter was a bit intense, as was the prior chapter. This chapter's intensity is the main reason why I kept it so brief. Next chapter will be longer, but I'm also going to keep it a bit on the lighter side.
As for the main plot points in this chapter, how do you feel about Damiana's fight with Saeran? How do you feel about her conversation with Starfire? I would love some feedback if you'd like to give it! Regardless, I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter.
Until next time!
Forever and always,
~OCQ