Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Back to the Present ❯ Epilogue ( Epilogue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

BACK TO THE PRESENT
Epilogue

By Jacque Nicole

Titans' Tower, 2005

Starfire sat in her room alone, her blankets covering everything but her face. Every light was on in her room, even though the fluorescence from the beautiful sunset shining through her windows easily lit the entire area. After the ordeal she had never felt comfortable in darkness.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and sank her face into her pillow as she felt the shakes coming on. They had never stopped, even though two long weeks had passed since the Titans of the future had returned to their time period.

As she shook, the large green hat she wore on her head somehow slid off, exposing her pointed ears and the large `zit' that graced her forehead. She did not notice it, though, as her body began to ache and her vision began to cloud because of her sudden migraine. She gripped herself tighter before immediately relaxing her hold on herself as her gnarly nails dug into her soft flesh.

Just as she felt her body begin to tranquilize itself, she unconsciously let her body go back into the position it was previously in. At the most inopportune moments, she fell into spells like this. They never lasted longer than five minutes, but the pain they caused never fully left Starfire. On top of all that, strange deformations had appeared on her without warning.

Of course, she never complained or told her teammates anything about what was happening to her. It was her problem, Starfire rationalized. If her friends thought she was weak than they would surely kick her off the team, she thought.

Suddenly, a red light began to flash and an alarm sounded. Quickly, Starfire snatched up the hat from of the floor and replaced it on her head. Just after she clapped her hands to automatically turn off the lights in the room and put on her oven mitts, her door slid open.

“Starfire, trouble!” yelled Robin, right outside her doorway.

Starfire sat up in her bed and pulled her knees to her chest in hopes that Robin wouldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. “I will be with you shortly,” she said.

Robin looked at her questionably, but decided not to force her to talk to him. He let to doors slide shut in front of him, but just before they closed, he could have sworn he heard saw a tear glistening on her cheek.

Titans' Tower, 2015

It had been two long weeks since Nightwing had seen Starfire last and, surprisingly, she wasn't constantly on his mind. Sure he thought about her, but he wasn't obsessed like he was not so long ago. He finally had fully come to terms with the relationship they shared: Friendship.

He pulled out his yoga mat in his bedroom for his daily exercises. He stretched like a cat, slow and relaxed. He felt as if he had no cares in the world.

Since his visit to the past, Nightwing changed his life dramatically. He got back in touch with his mentor, Batman, and began to appreciate the people in his life much more. After all, you'll never know when they can't be with you anymore.

He made sure he lived his life to the fullest. Instead of being so focused on his work, he took the time out to actually talk to his teammates about things that didn't have anything to do with the latest villain. For the first time, he really realized how interesting, unique, and fun his teammates were.

On the mat, he switched his position, still reflecting on his life, his thoughts giving the out-of-body feeling he usually got when doing yoga. He inhaled deeply, moving his body into a sitting position on the floor. He sat quietly in his meditated state, enjoying his peace, his solitude, his -

“Oh lover boy...” a voice Nightwing recognized as Beast Boy's drawled teasingly from down the hall. The vigilante's brow furrowed, hoping that any higher power would steer Beast Boy away from his direction. “Romeo...” called Beast Boy lazily from the other side of Nightwing's closed door. “Can I come in?”

Sighing, Nightwing opened his eyes. “The gods aren't even on my side today,” he mumbled to himself. “Sure,” he said louder.

The changeling let himself in and leaned on his elbow against Nightwing's wall, the telephone dangling between his fingers in his other hand, teasingly. “Your latest squeeze is on the phone.”

Nightwing rolled his eyes. “For the last time, B.B., she isn't my `latest squeeze'.” He began to roll up his mat. “She's a close friend of mine. Besides,” he said, tucking the mat in his closet, “you make me sound like a man-whore when you call her that.”

This time Beast Boy rolled his eyes. “Well, with the amount of girls showing up at our door lately, one could easily mistake you for a man-whore.”

“Shut up, Beast Boy. You know those were just some over-obsessed fangirls,” he said, reaching for the phone.

Beast Boy pulled it out of his reach. “Mm-hmm. So if they were fangirls, then who might this girl be?”

Nightwing's cheeks colored the slightest bit. “I told you already. She's an old friend.”

“Whatever you say, Casanova,” replied the changeling disbelievingly. “Well, whatever you want to call her, she's on the phone for you.”

“Just give me damn phone,” said the vigilante, snatching it from his teammate's grasp. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to talk to the person waiting on the other side of the line. He stopped abruptly, as if just realizing something. He looked at Beast Boy with one brow raised. “Do you mind?”

Beast Boy shrugged his shoulders. “Not at all,” he said, making himself more comfortable on Nightwing's bed. Nightwing gave the changeling the look and he got the message.

Nightwing sighed to calm his pounding heart after Beast Boy left. He felt like a hormonal teenager all over again. He pulled the receiver to his ear. “Hello?” he answered. He leaned back on his wall. “Oh, hey Babs.”

... Fin ...

AN: I have to admit, that wasn't very much of an epilogue. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered with Starfire, but it really sets up a stage for the sequel if I do write one.

Starfire's scene takes place during the episode Transformation just before they go to fight Plasmus. Nightwing's scene is just random and the only purpose of it is to show that he's moved on in his life. Babs is Barbara Gordon, but it really doesn't matter what girl is on the phone with him because I don't think Nightwing would be a very important character in the sequel.

I wanna say thanks to everyone that stuck with this fic, even during times when it didn't look like I'd be updating ever again. Don't worry, you haven't heard the last from me.

Length: 1,017words

Posted: December 18, 2005

Edited: September 5, 2006