Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Dreams And Destinies ❯ Secrets And Suspicions ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

Secrets and Suspicions

 

“Starfire.” Robin yelled as he ran over to Starfire as she emerged from the alleyway. “What on earth were you thinking? You could have been hurt!”

“I am sorry.” Starfire looked downcast. She hated it when Robin yelled at her. Especially before he would give her a chance to explain. It had been one of the reasons….she shook her head and continued before he could start again. “But you must understand. I saw something in the centre of the cloud. A spot of light. I believed that was the cause of the storm.” She looked down to the girl she still held in her arms.

“Wait a minute.” Robin said, his attention now centred on the strange girl. “Are you saying that you found that girl in the middle of the storm? Up there?” He pointed up at the sky.

“I know that is it strange but when I arrived through the clouds, I passed through them and there she was. When I took hold of her the light went out and the clouds dispersed with a very loud bang. I was knocked with her back down to earth.”

“Yes but…”

“Robin,” Raven cut in. “Can't we figure this out later? This girl probably needs medical attention. We should take her back to the tower.”

“Of course. You're right Raven.” Robin admitted. He turned to Cyborg. “Take her back with you in the T-Car Cyborg. Get her to the medibay as soon as you can.”

“I won't spare the whip man.” Cyborg took the girl from Starfire and gently placed her in the vehicle. He raced back to the tower with the others right behind.

Later at Titan Tower, Robin left the medibay and found Raven waiting for him in the hallway.

“Robin.” She said pulling back her hood. “How's the girl?”

“No change. She hasn't woken up yet. Cyborg is still running tests to see if he can find out anything about her.”

“I see. I'm sure Cyborg will be able to figure things out so if it's okay I'd like to talk to you for a minute.”

“Um…well I really should get to work on the reports about what happened.” Robin seemed eager for an excuse. It didn't fool Raven for a second.

“We don't know what happened yet so the reports can wait.” Her tone said she would not take no for an answer. She walked away towards her room and Robin, knowing he had no choice, sighed and followed her.

Raven's room suited her perfectly. It was sparsely decorated with only a bed, desk and chairs and a few magical items. It was dark and it was quiet. Just like its inhabitant. She motioned Robin to take the chair but he shook his head and stood in the centre of the room.

“Um…Raven…”

“It's still happening isn't it?”

Robin looked at her shocked but then lowered his head, resigned that he had been found out. “Yeah it's still happening. Every night as usual.”

“I thought you said that the meditation was helping.” Raven looked seriously at Robin. She'd had an idea that he was lying to her but she made a point never to read her friend's minds. Luckily she hadn't needed to.

“I tried the meditation Raven I really did.” Robin tried to defend himself. “ But no matter how I concentrated the dreams still kept happening.”

“Is that it Robin? Or is it that deep down, you don't really want those dreams to stop?” Raven raised an eyebrow at her fellow titan.

Robin hated it when she looked at him like that. And he really hated how she always seemed to know things like that. He suddenly felt very exposed. And he hated that most of all. “What are you talking about? Of course I want them to stop. Having a dream every night about kissing some girl I don't know and can't even see? Who would be content to let that happen?”

Raven simply raised her eyebrow again. Robin blushed furiously.

“Robin,” Raven began but even now she wasn't sure she should bring it up. “Are you sure these dreams have nothing to do with….Starfire?”

But Robin was ready for that one. “No Raven. This isn't about Starfire. For one, the eyes of the girl in my dreams are brown and Star has green eyes.” He blushed furiously again at Raven's smile. “Hey her eyes are the only things I can see, of course I'm going to remember the colour.” Raven just shrugged and Robin, now really red and with a tick starting over his right eye continued. “Two, the thing with Star and me, it didn't work.” Robin sighed. He really did regret ever changing anything with Star and putting her through that pain. “The attraction was there, everyone knew that. But when we actually got together….it was different. The real feelings just weren't there. For either of us. I'm just glad we were able to remain good friends.”

“I am too.” Raven admitted truthfully. She remembered how things had been when Robin and Starfire started seeing each other. The very air at the Tower had been full of tension so thick that it had actually interfered with her meditating. She had been the first to agree that Robin and Star were much better off being really good friends. “And I know that things ultimately worked out for the best between you two but I had to ask.”

“I understand.” Robin replied (even though he really didn't).

“But back to this dream.” Raven continued, now eager to change the subject. “Has anything changed about it at all?”

“No. If anything it's only been getting more intense the last few days. I guess the meditation really isn't helping. But one thing that is helping.” Robin turned the tables and smiled at Raven. “Thanks for listening about the dream Raven. I think I'd have gone stark raving mad if I couldn't tell someone about it.” Raven felt herself start to blush. Even though she cared very deeply about all of her friends, especially after that whole mess with her father, she had trained her emotions down to a sharp, hidden point. And old habits are hard to break. But thankfully, before she had to come up with a response, Robin's communicator went off. It was Cyborg.

“Robin, get down here. She's starting to wake up and I think the first face she should see is yours instead of my half human mug. Might freak her out.” Robin nodded at Raven and they both set off for the medibay.

When Lyllandra finally opened her eyes, she was looking into the face of a boy who seemed to be close to her age. The first thing she noticed was that she couldn't see his eyes. They were hidden behind some sort of hokey looking mask. The second thing she noticed was the smell. She couldn't quite place it…hair gel? If so then there must be a lot of it because the smell was really strong.

She blinked a few times to clear her vision and tried to sit up. The boy in the mask spoke then, “Hey there, not so fast. You should stay lying down until your head clears.” He put his hand on her shoulder to gently push her back down but she grabbed his hand and removed it with more strength than even she thought she would have considering how she felt. Which, incidentally, was like she'd been kicked in the chest. Her right hand was numb as well, which scared her some. Not that she wasn't scared to begin with, she was terrified in fact but she wouldn't let herself panic. She couldn't remember what had happened but she imagined that she had passed out in her mother's living room. Which meant she was probably dreaming. The fact that it finally wasn't the stupid dream of her kissing her mystery man pleased her some and she was able to rationalize that if she was dreaming then she would wake up any minute.

For now though, she had to force herself to make some kind of sign that she was okay. She had sit up, much to her head's dismay (funny that she should feel so lousy in a dream), and had her face in her hands. The weird masked guy had taken to rubbing her back and she heard him tell someone (whose name she must have heard wrong…no parent hated their child enough to name them Cyborg) to get a glass of water. She forced herself to open her eyes just as the glass of water was shoved under her nose. She brushed her hair out of her face, mumbled a thank you and drank the water down. The cool water rushed down her throat and her head abruptly cleared. Wide eyed, she lowered the glass and set it on the table in front of her. She reached her hand up and touched her hair. Bringing it around to eye level she stared at its copper shine in disbelief. If ever there was proof that this was a dream then this was it. But then why did the strands feel so real in her fingers? Why did the water feel so cool and well…real as it poured down her throat? She could feel her pulse start to race again as she reached down with her left hand and pinched the flesh on her right arm. Hard. She gasped in pain and looked at the welt on her arm.

“Are you okay? What did you do that for?”

Lyllandra jumped a mile at the voice. She whirled around and was looking again into the face of the strange guy in the mask. He still had his hand on her back and as she looked at his face she realized he was sort of good looking. He might even be cute if she could see his eyes. She felt a blush hitting her face. That she should be thinking such thoughts at a time like this! And in the condition she was in! She shook her head slowly and tried to say something intelligible but all that would come out was a whispered, “I'm not dreaming am I?”

Robin had backed away some when he saw how frightened and pale the girl was but now smiled and stepped closer again. “No, I'm afraid you're not dreaming. This is all very real. But don't worry. We're not going to hurt you. We want to help you. My name is Robin. What's yours?”

He had a nice smile and it seemed genuine and Lyllandra wanted to believe that he meant her no harm but she was still having trouble believing that this was all real. He was wearing a cape for crying out loud! And what was with the crazy orange and green outfit and…were those shoes made of metal? Still, she had no idea where she was or what on earth was going on so she figured her best bet would be to cooperate with these people until she could get out of there.

“Um…I'm Lyllandra.” She managed a smile and swung her legs over the side of the table. And then all hell broke loose. In turning herself to the side of the table, the other person in the room was now visible to her. At first glance she thought was just a really big black guy with a funky jump suit on. But now that he was in the centre of her field of vision, she realized that he was a really big black guy…who was half machine? She blinked a few times but each time her eyes saw the same thing. Blue and white metal covered almost 80 of his body and his left eye glowed red. She could hear Robin began to explain but Lyllandra had seen enough. No way was this real. Pinch or no pinch, she had to be dreaming, and she had to get out of here.

Before either of the circus rejects could move, she leapt off the table and sprinted for the door. It opened with a quiet swish and she darted out into the hallway, mask-boy and machine-guy's yells close behind her. She had no idea where she was going but she ran down the hallways, first left and then right, hoping desperately that they would lead to some kind of exit. As she made a second right turn, a voice boomed through the building. “We have an intruder loose in the tower. Titans, find her but don't harm her.” Lyllandra ran to the end of the hallway and found herself in some sort of great room. There was a kitchen area to her left and right in front of her was a half moon couch and what could quite possibly be the biggest television she had ever seen in her life. Sitting on the half moon couch, now angry that his video game had been interrupted, was a short green boy in a purple jump suit. When he saw Lyllandra he jumped up and ran towards her. Lyllandra ran to the left around him. She ran past the kitchen table but almost tripped when she saw the green guy change into a cheetah to catch up with her. She turned her attention away and saw right in front of her a large door. An exit at last! She had almost reached it but was forced to stop hard when the whole door was enveloped in some kind of black glow. She fell backwards and landed on the floor. In less than an instant people so strange that she began to doubt her dream theory surrounded her. Even her imagination wasn't that good! Instead she was feeling like she was losing her mind.

The cheetah had stopped just a few feet from her right side and had changed back into the boy. On her left was someone wrapped in a dark blue cloak whose hands were glowing the same intense black as the door. She couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl. Right in front of her had appeared a girl with red hair wearing a light purple mini skirt. Her eyes glowed green and she was floating! Lyllandra buried her face in her hands, trying to deny the impossible sight before her. She stayed that way until she heard Robin's voice getting closer. “Don't let her leave but don't harm her. She's just scared.” Lyllandra opened her eyes and saw the others make way for Robin to come through, the strange half-machine guy right behind him. Robin crouched down beside her but before he could say anything she looked at him and yelled,

“What the hell is going on here? Where am I and who the hell are you people?”

Robin was somewhat confused. He figured she'd be upset and confused about her situation but everyone knew who the Teen Titans were, even on the other side of the country and yet this girl was acting like she'd never seen anything like them before. He reached out to touch her shoulder and he could feel her shaking. Instantly he felt a very uncharacteristic sympathy for her. And as he looked into her large, frightened brown eyes he felt a jolt in his stomach that had nothing to do with confusion.

Her eyes were brown and impossibly large and as he looked into them he saw all the feelings she had been hiding. She loved him and he realized with a sense of fear and joy that he loved her too. Every fibre of his being was screaming it out but he could make no sound. He wanted, no needed her to know how he felt. He felt as if his heart would burst forth from his chest as he leaned in towards her………….

Robin shook his head angrily. Where the hell was that coming from at a time like this? Sure she was a pretty girl (with the most amazing eyes he'd ever seen on a human being) but that wasn't the point! He tried to clear his mind and focus on the situation right in front of him. “It's okay. I will explain everything to you and you can tell me what you remember and I promise we will figure this out but you have to try and calm down and you have to trust me. Please?”

Lyllandra looked at Robin who had reached out his hand towards her. She still couldn't decide whether it was all real but she couldn't think of anything else to do at the moment. She knew that whoever these guys were they weren't going to let her leave in a big hurry and besides…where on earth would she go? She hesitantly put her hand in his and he helped her stand up. The other Titans relaxed and backed away.

“Come on, let's sit down and figure this out okay?” Robin began walking towards the half moon couch. “I'll tell you all about the Teen Titans and you can tell me what you remember before waking up in the medibay.” Lyllandra let herself be taken to the couch. The other Titans followed and soon all were seated.

Robin talked first. He told her all about the Titans and their role as heroes in Jump City. He pointed to each Titan in turn and introduced them. Lyllandra stifled a shocked look when she learned that the big half-robot guy's name really was Cyborg and she couldn't stifle a giggle when Beast Boy turned himself into a kitten and nuzzled her arm trying to be cute.

When all the introductions had been made (and Beast Boy had turned back into a human after a dark look from Raven) Lyllandra looked a lot calmer so Robin leaned in and got down to business.

“Lyllandra, I'd like you to tell me what you remember before waking up here.” He looked at her closely, monitoring her reaction.

Lyllandra wasn't sure what to say. Bad enough it seemed like she wasn't even in her own world anymore but how to tell them that she had had cancer and was on the verge of dying but now that she was here, she looked healthy and, now that the shock had worn off, she even felt healthy! When she had sat down on the couch with the others, she had paid attention but at the same time had been checking herself out. She could see her reflection in the television screen and not only did she have all her hair, she was thin again! Her clothes were far too baggy on her and she didn't need to see herself to know it. She could feel it. And even though she couldn't tell if her skin was clear in the TV screen, she had a pretty good idea that when she finally got a chance to look at a mirror, her face and skin would be the same bright pink it had always been before she got sick. But how to explain that to them! She couldn't even explain it to herself! Swallowing hard she made a split decision. “I…I was in my mother's house. I was looking at an old photograph album when all of a sudden there was a bright flash of light and that's the last thing I remember.” Raven shot an intense look at Lyllandra but she did not notice.

“What was the picture you were looking at?” came from Cyborg.

“It was a picture of my sixth birthday party.” Lyllandra answered. She suddenly felt a little embarrassed and couldn't figure out why. “You know, a picture of my mother, father and me cutting my cake. I noticed…” But she trailed off as she realized she couldn't remember what she had noticed. She knew there had been something in the picture that had grabbed her attention but…what was it? Her right hand began to tingle and she rubbed it absentmindedly, trying to remember the detail that eluded her.

Robin noticed her rubbing her hand. “Is something wrong with your hand Lyllandra?”

Lyllandra looked down at her hand that was still tingling. She tried to cover the fear in her voice. “Oh it's nothing, must have been sitting on it wrong while you were talking earlier. It's just a little numb.”

Robin looked thoughtful for a moment but quickly got back to the point. He quickly explained how the Titans had come to find her in their world. Lyllandra sat speechless and amazed at the story. When Robin finished the part about how Starfire had found and rescued her, Lyllandra turned to her and said, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Starfire looked confused.

“For risking your life and rescuing me from that…whatever it was that had me up in the…oh hell, just thank you.”

Starfire's smile was almost as big as the couch. She floated up from where she was seated beside Raven and landed herself between Robin and Lyllandra. She gave Lyllandra a hug tight enough to turn her blue and exclaimed, “Oh you are most welcome my new friend. And do not worry. I too know what it is to be far away from home in unfamiliar surroundings. And until we find a way to send you back home I will be your guide to our glorious city.”

“Do yourself a favour.” Beast Boy leaned in close. “If she offers to cook for you, say NO!”

Everyone laughed at the jibe. Even Starfire, who didn't quite understand why it was so funny,. After all, she was a great cook. The only one who didn't join in was Raven. She sat, unmoving on the end of the couch with a terribly unimpressed look on her face.

When the laughter died down Robin turned serious once more. “We'll do some scans of the area where we found you. But until we find something it's probably a good idea for you to stay here where I…uh WE can keep an eye on you. Just in case.” Raven shot him a look but he ignored it. He looked at the other Titans. “Any objections?”

The answer from Starfire was obvious enough. She still hadn't let go of Lyllandra. (Although she had loosened her grip just enough so that she could breath) Cyborg said, “I don't have a problem with that.” Beast Boy just said, “I don't have a problem either IF….” He looked at Lyllandra seriously. “You like video games right?”