Alice: I'm so excited!

Emily: Haunted is coming up soon! I have been dying to write that episode since I started this story!

Alice: I'm sure you can all guess what happens in Haunted (hint, the summary gives it away!).

Emily: In the meantime, here's the next part of Betrothed!

Alice: Just letting you guys know, once I finish the Haunted episode, I'm going to post the real winner of the Teen Titans story poll.

Emily: So just look out for that!

Alice: Anyway, here's the rest!

Betrothed

Part 2

When the feast ended, loud music began playing. Almost everyone in the room stood up and started walking to the throne room where the music continued. It was time for the groom and the bride to be introduced to each other, and the titans waited anxiously behind Starfire, who was a couple steps in front of them. Galfore stood up and shouted, "All hail the grand ruler of Tamaran! Empress Komand'r!"

The titans frowned in confusion when Starfire gasped in shock. Suddenly Blackfire walked into the room with a crown on her head and a smirk on her lips. Raven narrowed her eyes at the sight of the woman. While she was already aware Blackfire escaped from prison, she did not think the girl would be so daring as to go back to her homeland. "Blackfire!" Starfire glared accusingly at her sister.

"Starfire," her sister grinned. "You seem surprised?"

"I am surprised you are out of prison!"

Yeah, Raven should have probably told her about that…

"Well since you put me in jail," she growled the last part out, "I got really bored really quickly. I decided to escape, and I ended up back at Tamaran. Turns out I'm the heir, so they legally had to give me the crown."

"Not if you are jailed again," she stated in a warning voice, but Blackfire merely rolled her eyes.

"If I'm jailed, how will Tamaran defend themselves? You saw the army parked right outside of the palace!"

Starfire flinched at that statement. While she grew up an honored princess, she never received proper training for becoming queen. That all went to Blackfire, who everyone suspected would be the ruler once their parents died. She had no idea how to fight in a war although she suspected one person in court did.

She stole a glance at Galfore. He raised both Blackfire and Starfire, which meant he was forced to go to the lessons on being a ruler in order to watch Blackfire in them. He had the same experience as Blackfire and could be the ruler… only if the crown was given to him. She highly doubted Blackfire would simply give that away, and she doubted their people would take it well if their empress was imprisoned during her rule. Not unless she fell out of favor with the people, but how? The royal family as always loved including Blackfire.

She had to think…

"Want to meet your new groom?" Blackfire smiled cruelly.

Starfire frowned but nodded.

Suddenly a beautiful man walked out, and Starfire's jaw dropped. He was shirtless, and it revealed his muscular body. His face was beautiful and had no flaw. He smiled, and Starfire could feel a blush coming to her face.

Even Raven was blushing a bit.

Robin noticed Raven's expression and leaned in, whispering, "Hey, mind if I dump you for him?"

She snorted at the statement, and Robin grinned. She glanced at him, and the two shared a moment of simply looking at each other. Both of their expressions held amusement.

Until the man stepped off stage to reveal a giant green mushy… thing. Robin wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't look comforting. It reminded him of Star Wars actually. "Starfire," Blackfire beamed. "Meet Glgrdsklechhh, your soon to be husband!"

Beast boy blinked. "You can't be serious!"

Everyone turned to him, and he blushed in result.

"Glgrdsklechhh happens to be the king and in control of the army parked outside of our palace!" Blackfire snapped. "In order to ensure they don't wipe us all out, Starfire must marry him."

Starfire flinched and glanced at the green glob. "It's nice to meet you," she bowed slightly. "My name is Starfire."

The thing let out a large burping sound, and Blackfire grinned. "He says he's pleased to meet you."

Robin frowned, about to say something, but Raven quickly grabbed his arm as a reminder of his situation. They nearly exiled him once for talking to Starfire. How would the court react if he outright objected to the marriage? Robin sucked in a deep breath and forced a smile at his friend.

Blackfire noticed the action and frowned. "Take the princess to her chambers so she can prepare for the wedding," Blackfire announced. "The wedding will take place at moon set!"

Starfire took one last glance at her friends, who were all sympathetically staring at her. This wasn't how she wanted them to remember her, so she faked a bright smile at them before she walked away.

Blackfire smiled. "You may show her friends to their rooms as well, but keep an eye on them."

The titans were lead off, but Raven remained to spare on lingering look at Blackfire. "I know what you did for Starfire," Raven stated, surprising the titans. "Why are you behaving like this?"

Blackfire didn't bother responding, and the titans were lead out of the room.

"Here is your room," the guard announced.

"Cool," Beast boy grinned.

The guard frowned. "Not your room. Robin and Raven's room. Since they are courting, we decided to give them the privacy every couple deserves."

Once again, Cyborg and Beast boy had to hold back a snicker as Robin and Raven's faces turned bright red. While both of them wanted to argue that they didn't want to share a room, they knew the potential consequences of what would happen if they rejected it. So they both smiled and thanked the guard before walking into the room. The doors shut behind them, and they slowly stepped away from each other. Looking around the room, they frowned when they realized…

"There's only one bed," Robin stupidly pointed out.

Raven blushed. "We are not sharing it."

"That implies we're getting any sleep tonight, and we're definitely not."

Raven whipped around. "Excuse me?" She exclaimed.

Robin frowned but proceeded to flush when he realized what his words implied. "Not like that!" He took a step back. "I mean we're going to stop the wedding!"

"Oh… right." Raven took a deep breath in, trying to hide her blush. Of course Robin wouldn't have meant it like that! She was foolish for thinking he could be so crude. Shaking her head, she forced herself to think of the situation. "How do you plan on stopping it?"

"It's too convenient," he began explaining. "Blackfire takes the throne and an alien army just happens to invade? And the leader of said army wants to marry Starfire over Blackfire? And the leader is an ugly thing that would never make Starfire happy? It seems way too perfect to be a coincidence. I think Blackfire planned this."

Raven nodded in agreement. "How do we prove that?"

"You'll spy on Blackfire, and I'll talk to Starfire," Robin declared. "We might be able to stop this wedding if—"

"No."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "No?"

Raven rolled her eyes. Men! They were so stupid sometimes. "Think about it," she gave him a look. Judging by his confused expression, he had no idea what she was talking about. "Robin, Starfire's in love with you! She knows you don't love her back, and it's hurting her. How do you think she's going to feel when the love of her life sneaks into her room to talk her down from getting married in a totally platonic, nonromantic way? It's going to be a slap in the face because it's every romantic movie scene just without the actual romance."

Robin blushed at her reasoning. "Then what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to her," Raven clarified. "You're going to spy on Blackfire."

"Okay that sounds… okay."

"Okay." Raven nodded her head.

Just before she was about to leave, Robin interrupted, "Raven?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Raven clenched her fists. "Robin," she hissed out. "Now is not the time."

"When will it be time then?" he harshly asked. "I'm stick and tired of being avoided! Since we're stuck in the same room together, I might as well try and ask! The wedding won't start for a couple hours, so we have plenty of time."

"I'm not avoiding you," she said through gritted teeth.

He crossed his arms, not budging. "We both know you're lying, so you might as well admit it. Is it because of the prom date? Was it something I said? Did I make you uncomfortable or something?"

Did you figure out that I'm in love with you?

"Dammit Robin! Just drop it!" Raven shouted, and Robin flinched, prepared for something in the room to break. When no explosion happened, Robin let out a sigh of relief.

"Why?" He glared at her, raising his voice. "Why should I drop it? Raven, you were my best friend! I've shared things about myself with you that I wouldn't dare talk about with anyone else on this team! It hurts that you're avoiding me! The fact that I don't know why you're doing it is driving me insane! Just tell me!"

"Your best friend?" Raven scoffed. "You're being overdramatic. We weren't best friends."

"Yes, we were!"

"You're making our relationship seem like it was more than it was!"

"So you're saying I just imagined all those times I went to you for help? Raven, I cried on your shoulder! I was a total mess, and you were there for me! Last time I checked, I haven't cried in front of anyone else on this team. Are you saying that never happened?"

She flinched, remembering the day he was talking about. He just came back from some game show where he had an "episode," and he was extremely distraught. He had given her a look, and she knew it meant that she needed to follow him. When they were alone, he instantly broke down, and she wrapped her arms around him and held him. She didn't know what happened, and Robin was so distressed he couldn't properly describe the situation. She didn't need to know at the time though. She just needed to help him. "I'm not saying that never happened," she whispered. "I'm just saying you put more thought into it than you needed to. I can sense your emotions, so it's only natural you would go to me for help. The rest of the team don't know how to handle those types of situations."

Robin froze, staring at her as though she just committed a terrible crime. "So you're saying you've only thought of me as a teammate? And that's it?"

Raven gulped, hugging her body. His body was stilled, and she sensed there was a second meaning to the question, but she didn't know what it could be. Part of her wanted to give up the act and stop ignoring him. Still, she knew what that would bring. It would just hurt more when she caused the world's end, and she couldn't handle that. "Yes," she answered hoarsely.

Robin's expression didn't change. "Alright then," he answered. There was no emotion in his tone. "I'm sorry I bothered you."

A tense silence followed his words, and Raven felt like she was suffocating in it. This was going too far. What if she was pushing him to his breaking point? What if this resulted in another freak out of his? What if he loved her like she loved him?

No, that was impossible.

Still, she may have gone too far in ignoring him. While she wanted to save him from the pain of her betrayal later on, what purpose would that achieve if she was just hurting him now? She was about to open her mouth and take it all back, tell him she didn't mean it and make up some dumb excuse as to why she's been behaving like this.

But it was like fate wanted her to stay away from him because the door to their room slammed open.

Both whipped around and saw Beasty boy and Cyborg standing at the door. Beast boy was in front of his other teammate, staring at them with disbelief. "Guys, again! We could hear you from our room! What did I tell you guys about talking to each other? Don't! I wouldn't be surprised if the whole castle heard you!"

Cyborg frowned, taking in their distraught expressions. "You guys okay?"

Robin didn't even look at her. "Yeah. It was all just a misunderstanding. We won't fight anymore."

Raven flinched, and the two other teammates frowned at the scenario before them. "Okay," Cyborg spoke. "But—"

"We don't have time for this," Robin harshly snapped at him. "We need to stop Starfire's wedding. I have a plan."

"O-okay," Beast boy answered hesitantly. "What is it?"

Cyborg and Beast boy snuck into one of the alien ships. It was alarming how easy it was to break in, but they supposed their technology wasn't as advanced as they originally thought. After walking through the ship, they noticed something rather odd. There were no soldiers in the ship. It was like the entire thing was empty!

"So what do you think happened between them?" Beast boy blurted out.

Cyborg turned to him, "Be quiet! We don't want to let them know we're here!"

"There's no one here," Beast boy pointed out. "So we might as well talk about it. What do you think happened?"

The fact that no soldiers were rushing to their location due to Beast boy's voice only proved his reasoning. Cyborg sighed, "I don't know. Probably about something stupid again."

"Robin looked upset."

"So did Raven. That's what happens when you have a fight. You get upset."

"I don't know," Beast boy mumbled. "It seemed different this time. They didn't seem angry like the other times. They were just sad."

Cyborg nodded. "Do you think Robin loves Raven?"

Beast boy shrugged. "I don't know. For the longest time, I thought he was in love with Starfire, but he wasn't. I thought he was happy, but he wasn't. I can't really tell what goes on in his head, and it's frustrating. I just know Raven's in love with him, so I want him to love her back. Why?"

"I asked him if he was," he confessed. "During the whole situation with Terra… and after I was undercover. He never answered."

"Does that mean you think he's in love? Because he never denied it?"

"He didn't react either," he pointed out. "He didn't blush or stammer or seem surprised. He just looked at me. It was weird."

"So you're basically telling me that even though we're rooting for Robin and Raven to get together, it might not happen?" Beast boy frowned.

"I have no idea with those two," Cyborg shook his head before he slowed down. "We're getting close to the control room and nothing's happened."

It was true, Beast boy noticed. In front of them, they could see the control room, but no guards. Together they slowly walked up to the ship but there was no crew there. Cyborg gasped in realization. "There's no army… The ships are a set up!"

"Uh… Cyborg?"

Cyborg turned around to see multiple guards holding spears at them. Narrowing his eyes at them, Cyborg slowly raised his hands in surrender.

Robin easily snuck into Blackfire's room. All it took was a small distraction, and the guards standing in front of the door quickly left their post allowing Robin to walk inside. When he walked in, he expected something much more sinister, but it looked like a normal girl's room. Well, as normal as it could be for an alien queen. Walking to one of the desks, he narrowed his eyes at a very important looking jewelry case. He slowly opened it, which resulted in red light flashing. He quickly closed it and frowned when he heard approaching footsteps.

He quickly hid.

"Yes my plan was brilliant!" Blackfire bragged to the green glop thing. They slowly approached the same jewelry case Robin was inspecting. "I give you my pesky little sister, and you give me the Jewel of Charta. With it's power, I can rule Tamaran with an iron fist!"

Robin narrowed his eyes at the two. Just as he was about to sneak away, the green thing turned to him and suddenly spat green goop at him. Robin gasped as he was stuck to the wall. Blackfire blinked and turned towards him only to smirk when she realized who was spying on him. "Guards!" She called out. "Quick! There's an intruder!"

Today was just not his day.

Raven couldn't help but admire the beauty of the castle as she flew along the walls. Tamaran was truly beautiful, and she could see why Starfire took suck pride in her home planet. As she neared the balcony, she wondered how exactly she was going to talk Starfire out of marrying Glercyl… Glursyl… whatever it was. She was incredibly loyal, which meant she would be willing to do anything for her people. As Raven flew above the balcony, she saw Starfire leaning over on the opposite side. How… convenient. "Starfire…" Raven spoke up, and Starfire slowly turned around.

She smiled sadly. "I knew someone would come," she admitted. "It's why I decided to wait out here."

Raven nodded as she lowered her feet onto the balcony. "You know why I'm here then."

"To talk me out of my marriage," she answered easily. "Raven, you know why I cannot do that."

"I know you have a duty to Tamaran, but don't you also have one to yourself? Don't you think you owe it to yourself to be happy?" Raven approached her.

Starfire shrugged. "Maybe I will be happy with him."

"We both know that's not true."

"No. It is not."

Raven's eyes softened. "I need my rival, Starfire."

At that, Starfire snorted in amusement. "Rival? What kind of rival am I, Raven? He's rejected me, and I…"

Raven frowned. "And you?"

Starfire smiled softly, grasping Raven's shoulders and pulling her closer. "I am over Robin."

Raven's eyes widened. "You're… what?"

"I no longer have feelings for him," she offered Raven a bright smile. Well, as bright as it could be under the circumstances. "I realized that when he proposed to me earlier today. I am no longer your rival for that reason as well."

Raven parted her lips, unsure of what to say. For the longest time, Starfire was her main competition. Even after she was rejected, their love for Robin still bonded the two girls together. Now Starfire no longer held those feelings. If she were being honest, Raven thought Starfire would never get over Robin. It was a constant in the Titan's life.

"Even if we're not rivals," she chose her words carefully, "you should still come home."

"I am home, Raven," she whispered.

"We're your home."

Starfire sighed, removing her hands from Raven and walking towards the doors of her room. "Raven, I cannot leave my people behind to suffer while I am free on earth. You will not convince me otherwise. I am sorry."

"But Starfire—"

The redhead turned around and gave her a sad smile. "I must prepare for my wedding. I shall see you at the ceremony."

Raven reluctantly nodded her head. "Goodbye Starfire."

"Goodbye Raven."

When Robin was thrown into the strange prison cell, he was surprised to see Cyborg and Beast boy there as well. He raised an eyebrow, and the two just innocently smiled back. "I'm guessing you found out the same things I did?"

"That Blackfire and greeny are faking the invasion? Yep."

Robin sighed, rubbing his forehead. "So now we need to stop the wedding."

"Wedding crashers!" Beast boy grinned. "Cool! Can we escape now?"

"You've been waiting to escape?" Robin frowned.

"We figured you'd join us soon… and maybe Raven, but since she hasn't come yet, we might as well escape," Beast boy shrugged. At the strange look he received from Robin, he pouted. "What? We've gotten out of much worse!"

"It's true," Cyborg added.

"Fine," he rolled his eyes. "Let's be wedding crashers."

"Awesome!"

Raven was surprised when she noticed none of the other titans bothered to show up to the wedding. That could only mean one of two things. Either they got caught and were currently escaping, or they were late. Chances are it was the former. She sighed, hoping those idiots would show up before Starfire kissed whatever-it-was. Could she even kiss it? It didn't have lips… Raven shook her head and focused on the ceremony. Multiple citizens of Tamaran were present, and they watched with joy as their princess walked down the isle with Galfore.

Blackfire was the one leading the ceremony, and Raven was currently standing in the front row. Judging by Blackfire's multiple glances at her, she thought Raven was about to ruin the ceremony. While Raven desperately wanted to make a scene, she knew she couldn't.

Yet…

Starfire looked absolutely miserable when she finally made it to her fiancé's side. Raven pitied her, but she knew the titans wouldn't actually allow for the wedding. It was just a manner of when they bothered showing up with proof of whatever scheme Blackfire was trying to pull.

As Blackfire began speaking, Raven stole multiple glances at the door on the other side of the room. Any minute now…

The ceremony continued, and Blackfire grinned. "Do you accept—"

"STARFIRE!"

The crowd gasped as the doors were thrown open, revealing the rest of the team. Raven rolled her eyes. It was probably Beast boy's idea to be overdramatic like that. Blackfire clenched her fists together, and Robin shouted, "Starfire it's a trick! There is no invasion! Blackfire has been working with Glgrdsklechhh this whole time!"

The crowd gasped loudly, and Starfire clenched her fists. Turning to her sister, Starfire narrowed her eyes. "Is that true?" She didn't need an answer. This was her chance! If this spread, which Starfire knew it would, Blackfire would fall out of favor with the people which meant she could go back to jail. This was the opportunity Starfire has been waiting for!

Ripping off her white dress to reveal her normal clothes, Starfire slowly approached her sister, clenching her fists. "I challenge you for the thrown!" She shouted.

"You'd challenge the grand ruler?!"

"I challenge my siser!"

Blackfire leaped up, and the two sisters started brawling in the middle of the ceremony. Glgrdsklechhh merely sat there, hovering slightly above the ground. Robin didn't know why the thing wasn't helping. Maybe it was incapable of actually fighting? He wasn't sure. Either way he started to run towards the scene, but Cyborg's hand grabbed his shoulder. "She's got this," he smiled proudly.

"Besides," the titans all turned to see Raven beside them, "Blackfire won't seriously hurt her."

Beast boy blinked. "How do you know?"

Raven just shrugged, not bothering to answer the question.

"And anyway," the titans all turned to see Galfore next to them. When did he get there? "If you intervened, the challenge would be void, and Starfire would lose the crown."

"Got it. Don't interfere," Robin mumbled, crossing his arms.

The titans and the crowd all watched as Blackfire and Starfire fought. Robin frowned, noticing something odd about their fight. When Blackfire first came to earth, her powers seemed equal to Starfire's. Now her starbolts were much larger than Starfire's, and she seemed to have much more strength. Was that the result of the jewel Glgrdsklechhh gave her?

Taking a tiny step forward, he noticed that it was embedded in her armor right above her heart. Robin clenched his fists, wanting to warn Starfire but knew it was pointless. Amazingly, Starfire was still fighting! She managed to quickly avoid the blows and send many of her own at Blackfire. Then again, Starfire has been fighting on earth, which resulted in a major improvement in her skills. Blackfire, it seems, has fallen behind in her combat training.

That gave Starfire a huge advantage!

As Robin watched the fight, he also noticed the crowd seemed to be cheering Starfire on. He smirked. Cyborg was right. Starfire's got this!

The fight wore on, and after several broken walls and furniture, Blackfire eventually fainted. Starfire slowly walked up to her big sister and ripped the jewel off her. It seemed she knew the jewel as well. Along with the jewel, she grabbed the crown and placed it on her own head. "Tamaran has a new grand ruler!" Starfire declared.

The crowd happily cheered, and Glgrdsklechhh hovered over to her. Starfire frowned at him. "I am sorry," she didn't sound apologetic in the slightest. "But there will be no wedding."

The green goop let out a disappointed burp sound, and Starfire turned to her sister, who was slowly regaining consciousness. "Take her away," she commanded, and the guards instantly rushed to Blackfire and handcuffed her.

"I won't forget this," Blackfire slurred at her sister, struggling to stay awake.

"I expect not." Starfire agreed and watched as her sister was dragged away yet again. She turned to the crowd, who was watching her expectantly. "For my second command, I wish to give away the crown."

After a small pause, the people in the crowd began whispering. Starfire smiled and flew over to Galfore, who was staring at her with pride blooming in his eyes. "Galfore," she raised the crown off of her head and handed it to him. "You shall be grand ruler. You are more than qualified."

"I… thank you," he gasped, tearing up at the honor. "You shall still be a part of the royal family and will be welcomed back as a hero of Tamaran."

Starfire grinned and hugged her guardian. "Thank you."

As she parted with Galfore, she flew over to her friends, who were staring at her with wide eyes. She smiled, "Let's go home, yes?"

Robin faltered a bit before saying, "Yeah… definitely."

"Goodbye princess!" Galfore called out.

Starfire smiled. "Goodbye."

It took a bit to get back to the ship. Almost every citizen they ran into wanted to speak to Starfire about her recent actions. While she politely spoke to them, there was an underlying irritation in her tone. Some of the citizens caught it and left her alone, but others did not. "Finally!" Beast boy exclaimed when the ship was in sight. Cyborg laughed and made a comment, but Starfire didn't bother listening. Raven, Beast boy, and Cyborg were walking in front of her, and Robin was walking beside her.

"I'm sorry I had to lie about you and Raven," she turned to her leader. She wasn't really sorry, but he didn't need to know that. "I did not want you to be punished for talking to me."

"It's fine," Robin shrugged uncaringly, and Starfire slightly frowned. He was too good at masking his emotions. She truly couldn't tell if he returned Raven's feelings or not. It was a little frustrating… "Are you okay though?"

Starfire smiled, her whole body relaxing. "Yes," she admitted in a whisper. She smiled brightly at him. "This is the best I have felt in a long time. Thank you."

Robin raised an eyebrow, about to comment on her words, but Beast boy interrupted by shouting, "Come on guys! I want to get home! Hurry up!"

Starfire giggled. "I guess we should speed up?"

Robin smirked. "Probably."

Robin watched as Starfire flew towards the ship with a bright smile on her face. It almost made him happy to see her so energetic. He glanced at Raven, who was already boarding the ship. He replayed their conversation in his head, but he couldn't figure out why she said those things. Did she truly mean them? Were they just a way of making sure he stayed away? If so, why was she pushing him away? All of those questions swirled in his mind, and he knew he wasn't going to get any answers.

Maybe… maybe he should just give up on Raven.

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: I'm going to try and make the next episode one chapter.

Alice: Although it'll probably be two.

Emily: What did you guys think?

Alice: Let me know!